Bound through the Ages
by phoenix catcher
Summary: Complete. Harry/Tidus/OMC. Harry's past came with a punishment. Immortality. This is a story set alongside the game from the viewpoint of someone cursed to watch Spira destroy itself over and over again and knowing your own secret can only make it worse.
1. Becoming

Bound through the Ages

Disclaimer; Anything in this that you recognise either belong to J.K.Rowling or Square Enix and definitely not me. Anything plot-wise that you recognise is purely accidental.

Chapter 1; Becoming

The worst punishment known to non-magical people is execution whether by hanging, decapitation, firing squad, stoning or in more modern times the lethal injection. The existence of magic opened up more punishments, especially with the presence of Dementors. The advent of the 'Kiss.' The worst punishment that they could envision.

But the Powers could do one better, eternal banishment to Earth.

That is what they sentenced Harry Potter to after he destroyed the world as we know it.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Zanarkand**

Harry watched in contemplative silence from the open deck of the hover ship as two armies clashed below them. The blasts from bombs echoed through the metal deck as the hover ship swerved sideways to dodge a rocket fired from the Yevon army. Harry reached out with is senses. The army of Zanarkand was losing, it wasn't drastic but it was there. Their Aeons, rampaging through the Yevonites, were doing an immense amount of damage but the technological might of the Yevonites' latest war machines were taking their toll.

Harry's hope slowly dwindled as each of the Aeon's fell to enemy fire and winced as he saw Valefor burst into pyreflies before dissipating. She was one of the eldest of the Aeon's powered by fayths. Harry sighed as the memory flooded him. He remembered the last words that Hermione had spoken to him before they made that fateful decision and cursed themselves for eternity.

"_You know this is the only way Harry. We just don't have enough power on our own. If we bind these creatures to us we'll lose our Animagus abilities but we'll be strong enough to fight Voldemort!"_

She'd been right and with their forms they had become powerful enough to fight against Voldemort and the monsters he had created from the Ether but they hadn't taken into account the pure thirst for destruction that Harry's form would take. They should have been happy to accept their death as it came to them rather than alter the whole world. Now they were all punished for their actions. Hermione, Ron and Neville had been bound for eternity, only freed by people with the special ability to speak to them in their bound forms. A type of person that had become known as a Summoner and his friends had become known as Aeons.

Harry was different, the power to summon his form had been hidden in a deep nexus of caves beneath the largest ocean on Earth, renamed Spira after the cataclysm. He had been punished the most severely though. He wasn't sleeping through the Ages like Hermione, Ron and Neville and others like them throughout time. He had to live it, always fighting but never happy, his soul bound to Earth so that he could never move into the Ether.

For a thousand years after he had created the Cataclysm he had watched the world regrow. Nothing was the same, the seven continents of Earth had vanished. Oceans had become deserts and landmasses had become great oceans. Magic itself had been fundamentally changed by his form, peoples very lives had ended and been remade. Through it all two major powers had come into being. Zanarkand in the north and Yevon in the south. Over the last two hundred years they had been at war and Zanarkand was slowly losing.

Harry glanced over his shoulder passed the command group watching the battle with saddened faces. He started walking and they instantly split to allow him passage, scared of his presence. They all knew what he was, a trapped human with a sleeping titan bound within him waiting to be released by any summoner. He stopped at the rear of the craft and stared out across the night sky, horribly lit by fires and rising pyreflies from the deceased.

Out across the landscape he could make out the high buildings of Zanarkand. This was the last battle and when they lost it would be the end of Zanarkand. Yevon would win but the Zanarkadians had another plan, a last strike that would destroy them both. Harry had almost pleaded with them to stop but they had ignored him. They would freeze Zanarkand in time for millennia, a living dream controlled by the last survivors of Zanarkand using Harry's form to carve the path in the Ether for it to live in.

He spun back to the front as a Yevon ship crashed into the side of their own. Harry pulled out his sword in an instant and it burst into life. The blade was actually two blades that criss-crossed on one plane as it left the hilt. In the three spaces between the blades lightning crackled as he jumped into the air and brought the sword down on the first Yevonite that jumped onto the platform. Lightning span out and struck two more Yevonites and they were blasted back into their comrades.

Harry swung his sword out to the side in anger as he felt a great power pull at his very essence. The air around him became distorted as what looked like mist rippled through the air. He growled in defeat, knowing that any chance to stop it from happening had been lost to him.

Five of the Yevonites swung their swords at him but the Myst froze their blades into place and before anyone could react they slumped to the ground, their bodies twisted and the pyreflies screaming in pain as they were banished away from him. Harry drew up his own Black magic and focused it on the enemy craft.

Magic itself had been warped so much that nothing he had learnt at Hogwarts was possible. All beings had magic now as long as they chose to wield it and with enough training magic became more powerful but it was fixed into certain magicks. White, Black and Green. He summoned his Black magic and cast a power Flare attack in the centre of the craft.

He didn't care that the attack not only blew up the enemy craft but engulfed his own. They spiralled away and towards the ground as they became just one fireball before exploding as they landed within the Yevonite troops. Harry however had become more than mere gravity could handle. He stayed where he was with his sword stretched to the side and an ever growing cloud of Myst around him that killed anything it touched.

If it hadn't been so long since he had cried he might have sobbed at the feeling of death around him as hundreds died. Then the filling sensation as all of those lives and their magic was sucked into him. The Myst cloud collapsed into itself like a dying sun leaveing his form to crash towards the ground.

The being he had become wasn't one that could be described by any other. It was power, unlike anything that had ever been seen, beyond that of the other Aeons yet still an Aeon. He landed on four huge feet as he snapped his jaws at those still alive on the ground who could only watch in horror as more and more succumbed to the Myst that spiralled around him sucking out the very souls of all that it touched. Finally enormous wings burst out from his sides, but they weren't material wings but wings of magic, of Myst, or Power.

A burst of Myst shot from him as his wings expanded sending all of those on the battlefield into an early grave as the ground was ruptured. The Myst changed everything it touched, the ground warped and cracked as mountains began to rise around him. He roared in the desolation but the sound only caused more destruction.

The world would change again and this time it wasn't Harry's fault. The Zanarkand survivors were protected from him by their own summoning and they would sleep on within these mountains for eternity just as Hermione, Ron and Neville did in different places around the world.

There was nobody who could stop this now, he'd rage across Spira, leaving desolation in his wake until it wasn't worth remaining. Even the Powers that had bound him to Earth couldn't stop his fury, only punish him after it was done.

He knees flexed from the summit of a newly created mountain and he leapt into the air and down onto the Yevon staging area. Nobody in Spira was safe now, especially none of the Yevon cities that had destroyed his home for the last five hundred years.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Besaid Island - Southern Island Chain - 2000 years after Hogwarts**

Harry still walked the Earth watching all those around him as they won their rights to be remembered and then passed into history. He, however, how slowly passed through memory and into the forgotten tomes. His deeds as an Aeon had been forgotten, the devastation blamed on fighting nations and then the ensuring belief that their woes were the fault of passed nations' indiscretions.

He had tried to stop the man known as Yu Yevon, then leader of the Yevonites who had survived his destruction. He had spent his life trying to find a way to unite all of the torn Spira under one control and keep them from ever getting to the level where the people could break that control.

Thus Sin was born, something that even Harry's Aeon couldn't defeat in open combat though he hadn't tried it and didn't want to even imagine the devastation that would ensue from the two titans' battle.

Yu Yevon hadn't foreseen that a Summoner would present herself as a Fayth and using the power of her Guardian had summoned a mighty Aeon that had ripped the core of Sin away into the Ether and thereby destroyed it. Harry had seen the catch though as soon as Yunalesca died from the Summoning, the power that Yu Yevon had created had slowly gathered into the husk of the Final Summoning and over a period taken the form of Sin to once again wreak havoc on Spira. That was the way of it now. Sin would reign over Spira while Summoners pilgramaged to each of the known Fayths in the hope that when they reached Yunalesca's Fayth in the ruins of Zanarkand they would be ready to forfeit their own lives to bring a Calm of no more than ten years to Spira before the cycle began over.

Harry knew from experience that all things came to an end. The huge expanse of a world he had been born into had come to an end at his own hand, the technological marvel that followed had fallen to wars and now it was only a matter of time before somebody found a way to counter Yu Yevon's design and conquer Sin.

Only one person didn't fall and that was him, no matter how much he wanted to. He did have one thing going for him though, a separate life. One where he didn't have to worry about petty problems. The Sleepers, as he had called them, the ones that had summoned his Aeon before freezing their memory of Zanarkand into an ever continuing dream, they had given him the chance to come and go from their dream as he wished. He could wander the streets of Zanarkand just as he had a thousand years ago. See the people grow and flourish just like they had wanted to.

But they had upset that fragile balance ten years ago by giving body to one of their dreams. A man called Jecht, a dream given flesh by the Sleepers to find a solution to Yu Yevon. He had been an arrogant man when he first arrived talking about being a Blitzball Star in Zanarkand. Blitzball was a zero-gravity, water based game similar to the ancient game of water-polo. It was one of the only things that had survived from Zanarkand.

Jecht had quickly learnt that talking about a living Zanarkand wasn't the best way to make friends in Spira. Zanarkand now lay in ruins yet it is a holy place that none may befoul or face justice at the hands of Yevon. Harry found that rather Ironic since it had been them that had driven it to its destruction.

Jecht had been captured by Yevon for his wild tales but a fledgling Summoner and his protecting Guardian had bailed him out in return for his services as a Guardian and they had pilgramaged through Spira as a trio and after a hard six months they had defeated Sin and therefore bound Jecht to be the next, and current, Sin.

Harry had travelled far more in the last ten years then he had in the previous one hundred. He could feel Sin rising from his temporary prison and could almost sense the tension in the air and this time it excited him. A wide gap was opening between his two worlds. Sin was slowly bending his existence into the Sleeper's world and from Harry's home on a small Island in the South he intended to follow.

Time had ensured that his passage to and from the Sleeper's world was an easy and quick one, all he had to do was fall into a Summoner's trance and guide his magic to join with the Sleepers. They welcomed him as they always did and Harry was inside the Dreamworld far before Sin was.

He came into existence standing on the roof of the Zanarkand Blitzball Arena. A huge circle of seating with a large floating ball of water in the centre that two teams were swimming through. He smiled as he watched the Zanarkand Abes trounce their opponents. He had always liked that team especially since their star player was Jecht's own son. Tidus was a fascination to him and had been since Jecht had left the Dreamworld leaving a wife and seven year old son on their own. Ten years had passed and the Sleepers had fed all the power that they could into him but that power wasn't his to control. Harry wished he could talk to them so that he could ask them why they felt the need to give a simple boy so much of their power.

Harry felt a creeping on the back of his neck as he watched the game and turned away to look out across the city. "Ah, Jecht, so this is why you are here?" Harry muttered. "But is it for nostalgia or for another purpose that I cant see?"

Harry spied another person on a building roof far closer to the huge wall of water that Sin had formed in front of him. Instantly, Harry knew that there was something wrong with the man, not only was he standing on a ledge in front of certain doom but he smelt of the dead. "Why are the dead walking the Sleepers' path?" Harry asked in a normal voice and knew that it had carried over the mile distance because he had willed it and as a temporary Summoner of this world it would happen though he made sure that only the man had heard him.

Said man spun around and in an instant Harry had moved and reappeared on the ledge behind where the man had been but now facing him. "So it is Sir Auron that walks beyond his grave. Guardian to High Summoner Braska and companion to our friend here." Harry smirked at him. "Tell me, Sir Auron. Why is Jecht in the Sleepers' world if not for the sake of destroying it?"

"Who are you?" Auron asked him since Harry wasn't ever recognisable as himself here though only because a deep cloud of Myst leaked from his body distorting his features into that of a ghost.

"The beginning and the end of all." Harry chuckled sardonically. "He is here for his son then as they have predicted. Let's see who's story is the more interesting."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry watched without emotion as Sin's wave of water demolished Zanarkand and with it its population. Harry knew that this wasn't the end. The Sleepers would simply repair the damage and the city would live on again. But as Harry watched from the end of a torn road he knew that something was changing.

Two forms battled their way through a multitude of Sin Spawn, small bug like creatures that clung to Sin like a second armour, towards Sin himself. The larger of the two was easily recognisable as Sir Auron but the other looked strange with a sword in his hand.

"You learn fast, Tidus, but fast enough?" Harry asked aloud again and watched as the two stumbled in their fighting just long enough to force Auron to have to defend himself against two enemies. Tidus was more easily distracted again but as he looked up he couldn't see Harry in his cloud of Myst.

Before Sin was able to exit from the Sleeper's world Harry was already gone back into his prison life.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Besaid Island**

"Stop trying to set fire to me!" Harry yelled in the midst of their training session. He was facing off with a young woman of the small island village of Besaid as he trained her to use her powers more effectively. He had met her five years ago wandering alone in a region of Spira known as the Calm Lands, where the first Final Summoning had been cast. She had never offered an explanation to why she had been there and Harry hadn't bothered to ask.

She, and all those of the village, had also never queried the fact that in five years he had not aged. He was still a twenty year old young man to their eyes though it wasn't too strange for them since it wasn't like it was an unnatural immortality or so they thought.

"What!?" She cried exhausted as Harry continued to dodge all of her spells.

"I told you to stop trying to set fire to me." Harry said without emotion. "You try to control everything too much. It is not just with magic." She glared at him but he continued regardless. "Call fire into existence and allow it to target what threatens you. Magic protects its user."

She concentrated for a brief moment before Harry felt the magic fly at him. He didn't react as it was absorbed by his anti-flame spell which dwindled out of existence as it was expended.

"Better!" He told her with a small smile. He noticed a young woman walking towards them but after recognising her as one of the three summoners-in-training from the Besaid Temple that the village had grown up around he ignored her. "Now let's fight. First to score a hit wins."

Instantly Harry cast a one time all element protection on them both so that the first elemental hit wouldn't count before he took a half step backwards and raised his hands in an open gesture for her to start. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the summoner-in-training, Yuna he thought she was called, took a seat with two young friends of hers and a couple of other villagers.

Lulu, his trainee, a black mage and an already tested Guardian, took the bait as she closed off her senses to the rest of the surroundings. She lifted her hand and brought it down in a harsh cutting motion and along with it a lightning bolt hit the ground where Harry had just been standing. Harry on the other hand wasn't so easily hit. He threw a water spell at her which she dodged easily and quickly followed it with his own Fire spell which honed in on her as she dodged. The spell was absorbed by her immunity even as she tried to roll out of the way.

She surprised him by sending three rapid fire spells, a fire which forced him to bring up a water spell to counter and then a lightning spell which would have fried him even through the immunity spell if he hadn't cancelled the water spell and then another fire spell which he couldn't prevent from striking and nullifying his immunity. Harry smiled at her in compliment, it had been a well thought out attack.

Before his smile was over he sent a Blizzard spell at her which fired small shards of ice at her which when she dodged landed around her feet. His next fire spell missed completely as she used as Shell shield to protect herself rather than lose her immunity. She countered with her own Blizzard spell which he took a leaf out of her own book to dodge with his own Shell spell. Now they had to destroy the other's Shell spell.

Lulu cast a Dispel at him which he didn't bother to dodge as he fired a lightning spell at her. The onlookers frowned as the spell flew knowing that it was pointless at these training levels to use a spell like that against a Shell shield which would stop it in its tracks. The spell however didn't strike at the shield straight away but rather at the ground at her feet. The melted ice from his Blizzard and then Fire spells conducted the electricity and it shattered her Shell shield as it struck up at her nullifying her own Immunity.

By this point Harry was short his Fire Immunity whereas Lulu was missing her Fire and Lightning immunity. Harry grinned at her in a rare show of enjoyment and called up a water spell and lazily sent it at her. She cast a lightning spell in the hope of using the water to amplify the spell as she sent it through the water and into Harry and with the extra power hopefully shocking him regardless of his immunity. The water spell was obliterated by its opposite element and the lightning lanced out from the cloud of steam at Harry. The crowd cheered in that split second thinking that for once someone had bettered him but Harry just raised his hand and a blue shimmering bubbled formed over him. The lightning stuck with a clang and ricocheted off of it and straight back into Lulu who stood helpless to defend herself.

Harry walked over to her slightly tingling body and helped her rise. "Good work, Lulu. You are getting stronger at this every time."

"Thanks to you." She admitted modestly.

"I do what I can to pay for my board here." Harry told her with a shrug before turning to walk back into the town. "Have the Summoner-in-training deal with any burns that you may have."

He walked passed the crowd as he walked away. It was true that they accepted him into this community but that wasn't to say that they weren't afraid of him. He hadn't cast any spells above the level one Black and Green magic but he did so with such an ease that it made them nervous. He was glad because Besaid and Kilika were the only two safe places he could hide long term. He was a wanted man after all and had been since he had found Lulu five years ago.

"But," he muttered to himself as he walked towards the small cluster of huts that made up the town, "Things are changing. Perhaps I will go and explore this world once again."

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	2. Setting Out

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 2; Setting Out

Harry watched from the shadows as High Summoner Braska's daughter headed into the Cloister of Trials that protected the Fayth of Besaid. They all knew the Aeon as Valefor but only he and the other Fayths knew that the Fayth was called Hermione.

Harry had taken pity on Yuna when news had reached Bevelle, the Yevonite's capital city, of her father's death and he had offered to return with her to Besaid. She was only seven at the time so didn't remember his presence but her Guardian at the time, Kimahri, remembered his aid, especially with their passage through Macalania Woods and the Thunder Plains which were really too dangerous to pass through on your own, especially with a seven year old to protect.

The Ronso glanced sideways at him and nodded his thanks as he accompanied the seventeen year old into the cloister along with Harry's own trainee Black Mage, Lulu. Harry knew everything that went on his Besaid and knew that Yuna's third Guardian was skipping this event in order to keep an eye on the newcomer that had washed up on the beach the evening before after a run in with Sin. It was suspected that the boy had had his memory altered by Sin's toxins but Harry knew better. Even though he hadn't seen the boy yet the reports of him talking about playing for the Zanarkand Abes had reached his ears.

Harry had decided early this morning, after hearing of Tidus' arrival, that things were going to be changing now and he wasn't going to just sit at the side. An eternal life got extremely boring if you didn't get into the middle of things, that was how he had made himself an enemy of Yevon not only recently but ten times over the last thousand years. According to the stories that he had heard from Wakka, Yuna's third guardian, and Lulu, Tidus had appeared in one of the Ancient Ruins that were discarded in the large oceans. He doubted that it had been his own temple but the fact he had appeared near them was interesting in itself.

Then there was the fact that Sin had found him once again and transported him to Besaid, straight to him. Sin obviously knew what he was and it intrigued Harry that Jecht wanted Tidus to know of the one thing that could destroy them all. Harry wasn't going to just tell him though but he did plan on keeping an eye on them all.

Harry headed for the doors but found the Temple Summoner waiting for him. "Tornah." Harry nodded to the priest. At first it had annoyed the Priest that he didn't give him reverence but after realising how his own Aeon reacted to the young man he had let it pass. "What do you think of her chances of overcoming the Cloister?"

"They will manage it in time." The Priest nodded. "I have great faith in this summoner."

Harry chuckled. "You have faith in the summoner or in her father's legend?" The priest gave him a hard look which just made Harry smile at him and pulled up the collar of his sleeveless jacket as he made to leave. "Whether she is or isn't all that you hope her to be is of no importance to me."

"What do you mean by that?" The Priest frowned, he was one of the few that knew he was older than he looked, though he didn't know by how much. "What are you hiding?"

"What aren't I hiding, Tornah?" Harry chuckled again. "Time will reveal all, it always had."

Harry reflected on his own words as he left, he never really hid his past from any since he knew that there was nothing anyone could do about it. He could do as he pleased and really wasn't really troubled by the reactions of others. He kept it to himself only because he couldn't be bothered to deal with the effect it would have on Spira.

'_Though I might have to work to keep it a secret from Tidus.'_ He thought to himself as he spied the strangely dressed young man talking animatedly to Wakka. Most dressed simply in Spira with the exception of Summoners and Guardians. Summoners tended to wear flowing robes not unlike the Wizarding Robes that Harry had seen before. Guardians wore whatever they felt was best for their fighting style. Harry wore black baggy trousers and a red sleeveless top with a high armours collar to protect his neck from physical blows. As well as that he wore his sword sheath over his back and a Quatra Bracer on his arm that protected him from all four of the main elements as well as being hard enough so that he could use his left arm to block sword attacks.

Tidus however wore a more exotic set of clothing. Black shorts with one leg longer than the other as well as a black top that covered the lower half of his torso with sleeved jacket on underneath that was open at the front to bare his upper chest. Harry tore his eyes away from the young man and reminded himself gently that this was no time for attachments.

Harry hadn't allowed himself to be attached to anybody in over five hundred years. The last man that he had loved he had been forced to watch grow old and die and after that he had sworn not to allow it to happen again. Harry shook his head free of thoughts as Wakka and Tidus approached him.

"Harry!" Wakka called rather louder then he needed as he came to a stop with the seventeen year old beside him. "This is…"

Harry raised a hand, he enjoyed upsetting people's assumptions. "I know who he is. Our supposed Sin survivor. I don't doubt that the Crusaders are intending to speak with you. Tell me, why did Sin allow you to survive?"

Tidus looked confused for a moment before glancing at Wakka with a hopeful look as if the older man would answer for him. Harry tilted his head at Wakka as he spoke. "Tidus, this is Harry. He's a master of sword fighting and magic. You could learn a few things from him." Wakka turned to Harry before continuing. "Tidus was just lucky to survive his encounter with Sin."

"There are no lucky escapes from Sin, Wakka. After what happened to Chappu I'd expect you to know that." Wakka recoiled ever so slightly at the slight barb but Harry spoke to Tidus before he could argue. "If you escaped Sin, not once but twice, then you are not lucky. Sin must want you alive for some purpose."

Tidus' eyes had widened slightly as Harry mentioned his first encounter with Sin, he hadn't known that Wakka had mentioned it. "You believe in Zanarkand?" Tidus asked going slightly red as he eyed the twenty-five year old.

"That is a loaded question, Tidus." Harry smiled slightly. "Unlike Wakka here, I have seen the ruins of Zanarkand. The question though is whether your Zanarkand exists."

"Everyone keeps telling me that I'm imagining it." Tidus glanced at Wakka with a harsh look and got an exasperated one in return.

"I told you that you shouldn't talk about Zanarkand like that, it will get you in trouble." Wakka countered.

"Tidus, you should believe in whatever you think is the truth." Harry spoke softly. "Not everyone who claims to know the truth actually speak it. Where are you heading?"

"Tidus was just going to speak to the Crusaders." Wakka spoke up for the younger man as he pushed the boy towards the tent in question. He waited until he had disappeared into the tent before turning on Harry. "Why did you go and put those ideas in his head?"

"What ideas?" Harry returned the supposedly older man's glare with a playful look of his own.

"That he's from Zanarkand. It's not good for him to think that!" Wakka retorted.

"And you would have him believe in everything you say. As I said to him not everyone who claims to speak the truth actually do." Harry told the man harshly. "I have told you before Wakka, you shouldn't believe so blindly in everything that Yevon tells you."

With that Harry made his way into the forest and to his own hut just outside of the Village. It wasn't much really, just a simply round hut with a canvas roof against the heat of the summer. A small clearing stood in front of it with a chopping axe and logs stacked around the buildings wooden walls.

Harry spent the day cleaning his ancient sword and carefully recharging the element cells with power in case they were needed. It was in fact a mechanical swords, classed as illegal machina by the rather hypocritical Yevon government, but it was fuelled by magic and he had to recharge the cells every once in a while or every time he discharged the cells. The advantage of the sword was the fact that it amplified his magic so it saved him energy during a battle and meant that he could kill elemental fiends without revealing his magical abilities to potential enemies.

It could store all of the basic elements on a long times and then had two reserves for other magic that was too powerful to store for long periods like Holy, Air and Earth magic. Harry kept the sword charged with fire, water, lightning and ice all the time since it was normal to encounter fiends on the roads of Besaid and most of them were susceptible to an element or two.

It was coming onto sunset when a commotion erupted from the village. Harry thought it was perhaps fiends attacking the village before he realised it was anger more than fear that was fuelling the outraged cries. Harry made his way into the village to find several of the older members of the community arguing with the Temple Summoner.

"The Outsider cannot be allowed to desecrate the Cloister!" An old man argued at the appreciative crowd.

Harry almost chuckled as he pushed his way through the crowd and walked up to Tornah. "I take it our intrepid newcomer has taken it upon himself to rescue our wayward summoner."

Tornah nodded and Harry turned to walk up to the temple, not to help but to watch the spectacle. The only Cloister that should actually prevent entrance was his own, he didn't care who visited the other ones. "Where do you think you're going, young man?" The old man asked angrily.

"To watch." Harry shrugged.

"We already have one non-guardian in their, we don't need two." The Priest pointed out.

"I'm sure the Fayth won't complain." Harry laughed in amusement at their faces but was cut off as Yuna, Wakka, Lulu and Tidus walked out of the Temple and towards the villagers. Harry stepped to the side and wondered briefly where Kimahri had gotten to but it wouldn't be the first time that the Ronso had vanished unexpectedly since Harry had moved here permanently.

"How dare you!" The old man cried as soon as Tidus was within hearing range. Harry felt the rather rare urge to protect the young man and blocked them.

"It seems the Temple hasn't destroyed itself in a flare of revenge against him so just let it go." Harry told the man simply.

"It isn't that simple." Tornah said simply. "Yevon says that any desecrators must be sent to Bevelle for trial."

"You can't be serious!" Harry glared at him.

"You've always been the first to act out against Yevon's laws." The old man spoke quietly but a glare from the villagers kept him from continuing. They all knew that Harry wasn't a friend of Yevon, even the Yevon Summoner in charge of the temple knew as much but his help in protecting the Village was enough for them to let it slide.

"How about we let the Fayth decide?" Harry raised his eyebrows. "Yuna can prove her strength and summon her and she can decide whether to allow Tidus to be forgiven."

Tidus was looking rather pale at this but Harry knew that as soon as the Villagers agreed then he would win. Valefor would recognise Harry instantly and take his side, even if it went against Yuna's orders.

Yuna quickly agreed with the proposal since she had expected to have to summon her new Aeon anyway. The Villagers quickly moved away from Yuna leaving just her and Harry in the centre of the large stone circle with Hermione's symbol etched into it. Harry turned to her with a calculating look. She had the ability to summon him just like her father. Not everyone could summon him, only those with the ability to become powerful enough. He studied every summoner that came through Besaid so that he would be ready for the one that could learn of him and summon him to the detriment of all.

She had the power and she had the determination to risk summoning him but Harry didn't think she would if she understood what could happen to the world if she did. Harry made a mental note to keep an eye on her so that he could stop her from finding the power to his Aeon.

As soon as he stepped away the Villagers moved to make a space for him leaving a good two metres of space between where he planned to watch and them. She took a last look around at her audience and pulled her staff from her belt. She concentrated for a second and the Rod glowed with power. Harry was impressed, she had summoned the necessary power without the normal delay required of a new summoner.

This was the only necessary part of the summoning. The rest of it wasn't really required but the movements allowed the power that made up the Fayth to flow more freely into the world and to take form. A symbol appeared at her feet and lit up the dull evening light as it superimposed against the stone symbol beneath it. The clouds began to swirl and just as Yuna finished her strange dance, taught to her by her new Aeon, Valefor burst from the clouds and swooped down on them.

Two huge wings sprung out to arrest her fall revealing her red feathered body and the chains that linked her body to her wingtips. Harry felt a grin appear on his face, it had been a long time since someone had summoned her for him. It wasn't like he could just ask a random summoner to bring her into being for him. Valefor purred as Yuna stroked her calmly and the audience clapped except for Harry and Tidus though for different reasons. Tidus was just plain shocked.

Harry stepped forwards and Valefor turned to him instantly wondering why somebody had broken into her circle during this summoning which she was so used to. As soon as the large bird saw him she stepped forwards with outstretched wings. Harry stroked her neck calmingly as every gasped in shock. Nobody but the summoner could touch the Aeon without being attacked and this one was preferring Harry to it's own summoner.

"I think you just shocked them all, 'Mione." Harry whispered so that only the Aeon could hear him. Hermione's eyes flashed with humour before she cawed slightly.

"_You don't normally risk your privacy by speaking to me here." _Hermione's voice echoed in his mind. "_This is to do with the desecrator?"_

Harry knew that Hermione must have used Yuna's own memories to find this out. It was part of the connection between her and her summoner. "I told the Villagers to leave his punishment up to you."

"_I see. He is forgiven but perhaps I can scare him a bit."_ Hermione turned her head towards Tidus who was rather harshly shoved out of the onlookers and in front of Valefor. Hermione moved around and lowered her head again to study the seventeen year old. "_There is something different about this one."_

Harry nodded slightly and stepped up next to her so that he could whisper in her ear so that Tidus wouldn't hear him. "He is from the Sleepers World, like his father."

"_He is different from Jecht. He has a different magic in him." _Hermione told him making him rather curious. "_It can't be used to Summon or for Black, White or Green Magic."_

"The Sleepers gave it to him." Harry sighed. "But I don't know why."

"_And I can't tell you." _Harry gave her a look that told her that he knew she was hiding something from him. She nodded to Yuna before making to take off, her wings reached out and Harry gently grabbed Tidus' wrist to pull him back out of the circle so that he wasn't caught by Valefor as she took off and vanished into Pyreflies.

"That is all the proof you need. Tidus will not take punishment for his deeds." Harry stated.

"He cannot remain here." The Priest stated simply. Harry snapped around with a rare sign of anger on his face. They were reminding him of the Yevonites though that shouldn't have surprised him since they actually were.

"To think that I had forgotten that you were all Yevonites." Harry grumbled out though only Tidus heard him. He raised his voice with a shrug of his shoulders. "Then he will accompany Yuna and her guardians tomorrow."

Lulu and Wakka looked the most shocked as they looked between Tidus and Yuna in worry. Harry just smirked at them both and walked towards his hut leaving them all for the small celebratory party that they would undoubtedly have.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Besaid docks**

The southern islands of Spira were very isolated, the only reason people ever went to them was to visit the temples. One in Besaid for Valefor and another on Kilika Island for Ifrit. It was one of the reasons that Harry liked these Islands; two of his three friends were here. Hermione on Besaid and Ron on Kilika.

Neville was buried far to the North but the area was extremely hostile and Harry had only stayed there a few times and only for a few years at a time, never longer. He waited on the top platform of the paddle-sail ship that would take him to Kilika Island and from there up to Luca. Harry hadn't been to Luca in years, not since he passed through the area with Lulu in tow five years ago and before that when escorting Kimahri and Yuna from Bevelle.

Now he was returning though he hadn't admitted to himself the reason. He could think of four reasons; to go just for the sake of travelling again, to be a guardian again though he hadn't mentioned that to Yuna or her guardians, because the Sleepers had some sort of plan for Tidus and he wanted to see it out to the end or the last reason which he only half admitted to himself and that was because Tidus intrigued him.

He watched as the group of five appeared over the top of the beach and began walking across the ground. Harry studied them as he leant on the banister around the upper deck, while Yuna, Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri looked fine, Tidus was looking rather tired, as if he had just finished a rather tiring fight. Harry wondered what had happened, he had obviously met Kimahri in their crossing of the Island so it was conceivable that the Ronso had forced him into a fight. Harry felt a grin tug at his lips as he wondered who had won.

He watched from far above as the group stopped to say their farewells to the Islanders. He noticed Tidus slip away and up onto the ship before he disappeared out of sight. It wasn't until Yuna and the others got onto the ship before he was jolted out of his musing by Tidus as he appeared at his side.

"You're Harry right?" Tidus asked after a few moments of silence.

"So everyone tells me." Harry decided to be cheeky. "And you would be our Zanarkand Abe."

"What!?" Tidus gasped. "How much did Wakka tell you about me?"

"Oh, not much." Harry shrugged.

"Do you think I've been affected by Sin's toxin?" Tidus asked.

"I'll let you in on a secret Tidus." Harry smiled at him. "I've met Sin several times and never have I seen people driven crazy enough to imagine a life in Zanarkand. The toxin doesn't work like that. It disorientates you but it doesn't give you knew memories."

"So you believe me?" Tidus asked with a hopeful hint to his voice.

"I believe you." Harry nodded. "I'm not the only one either, I'd guess."

"Who else?" Tidus frowned glancing down at the bow of the boat as it slowly moved away from the dock and out to see. "Wakka thinks I'm crazy, Lulu just doesn't trust me at all and Kimahri just tried to kick the hell out of me."

Harry actually laughed as Tidus told him that he had guessed right. "Let me ask you something, Tidus." Harry turned and leaned on the banister with his side, they were both now at the front of the upper platform and could see the whole group plus the Blitzball players spread out on the deck below them. "Have you figured out what happened to your father after he disappeared all those years ago?"

Tidus span and almost slipped on the deck in shock. "How?"

"How do I know he disappeared?" Harry asked and received a nod. "I met him ten years ago in Spira. He was a guardian."

"How do I know you met my father and not just somebody else?" Tidus asked.

"This Jecht spoke of being a star Blitzball player, he was arrogant and self-assuming even after I beat him up several times." Harry chuckled at the memory. "He also mentioned Zanarkand and that he had left a son behind."

"He never cared about me." Tidus muttered.

"I can't speak to that." Harry told him simply, not wanting to get into Tidus' family situation.

"How do you know that I'm even from the same place?" Tidus asked, "How do you know so much about Zanarkand? It was destroyed a thousand years ago according to Rikku and Wakka."

"Rikku? An Al-bhed I don't doubt. You do get yourself involved, you're like me then." Harry chuckled. "I will tell you but only if you give me your word that you will accept what I say without questioning me or mentioning it to anybody else including myself."

Tidus frowned but nodded. "I swear."

Harry smiled at him. "I have seen this Zanarkand of yours."

"You mean the ruins?" Tidus asked deflating slightly.

"It is true that I have seen the ruins but I know what the city looked like when it stood. First hand." Harry told him seriously.

"You mean, you travelled here like me?" Tidus looked hopeful again and Harry realised that the boy wasn't as sure of himself as his father had been and was currently scared and lonely.

Harry just shook his head but not in the negative. "I told you not to question me. All will become evident in time but it would only complicate this journey to involve everything at once." Harry sighed. "Tell me, Tidus. Why do you want to go to Luca?"

"Because Wakka said that it's the best place to go to try to find Auron." Tidus told him.

Harry laughed. "I don't think you need to try to find _Sir_ Auron." Harry spoke the Sir part rather sarcastically. "He'll find you but you may wish to speak to Yuna about both Auron and your father."

"Why Yuna?" Tidus asked.

"She didn't know them as well as I did but your father and Sir Auron were guardians for her father. She met them both when she was younger." Harry told the younger boy calmly.

"How old are you!?" Tidus tried to joke rather than face all the strange stories he was getting about his father.

"Much older than I'm sure you can guess." Harry returned the joke though Tidus didn't have a clue quiet how far Harry was toying with him.

"Why are you coming with us?" Tidus asked after a brief silence of watching Yuna below them talking to the Blitzball players.

"I'm not, we just happen to be travelling in the same direction." Harry told him before chuckling. "There is only really one way to go from Besaid after all."

"I wouldn't know, nobody's shown me a map yet." Tidus sighed showing just how vulnerable he felt in this strange world. Harry knew what he was going through.

"Let's see if I can be of some help." Harry turned towards the front of the boat so that they were shoulder to shoulder, he held up a finger and pointed into the air in front of them. A small dot of fire appeared at the end of his finger and hung in the air. He spoke as he placed more dots of fire in the air. "This is Besaid at the very southern tip of Spira, our destination, Kilika, lies slightly to the north. Luca, our final destination, lies at the southern tip of the main continent of Spira. From there you can go to any of the coastal villages and towns though most of the traffic goes up the Eastern Coast."

Tidus nodded to show that he understood so Harry continued, skipping a major section in the middle which was mainly just villages and temples. "Up to the North is the Capitol City of Bevelle where all of the arrogance of Spira gather to tell others what they have to believe." Harry chuckled slightly at that. "Above Bevelle is the huge Gagazet mountains, home to the Ronsos and then beyond that the forbidden Holy land with Zanarkand in the middle of it."

"I don't remember there being any mountains near Zanarkand." Tidus said admitting that he truly did believe his own words and not what he was being told to believe.

"And I don't believe there was. The Gagazet Mountains were formed after Zanarkand was destroyed."

"I don't understand." Tidus told him simply just as Yuna caught sight of them and yelled out to Tidus.

"Understanding will come in time. Only a few people in Spira know the true history of this world." Harry told him slowly. "Tidus, make sure you speak to me again before we reach Luca."

Harry shooed the boy off down the stairs to the main deck and went back to watching the ocean as it brushed passed them. He had come close to telling Tidus the truth during that conversation and he found himself wondering whether it would really hurt to do just that.

'_Perhaps I should wait until I run into Auron and exchange a few words.'_ Harry thought to himself even as he let his eyes close as the wind ran through his hair. '_I love the ocean.'_

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	3. Destroyer

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 3; Destroyer

Harry loved the ocean, it was natural, just like the land but whilst the land had changed over the millennia the unrelenting power of the ocean hadn't. It filled what the land could not. No longer did the icecaps exist so whereas the planet known as Earth had been seventy percent water, this world, Spira, was now almost eight percent water with only one continent.

Harry stared out from under the main square sail listening to the sound of the chocobo driven paddle wheels as they splashed through the water. Most of the people were on the forward deck, a ten metre expanse of open decking in front of the bridge. Harry could see Tidus talking to Lulu below him while Wakka stared across the deck at where Yuna, or Lady Yuna as it was expected of him now, talked to a large group of crew and Blitzball players with Kimahri standing guard at her shoulder.

After a time Yuna managed to break away from her admirers and Tidus joined her by the railing. He vaulted up onto it and swung his legs under the bar as they chatted. Harry enhanced his hearing to listen to them without feeling at all guilty. "You're a Blitzball player aren't you?" Yuna asked.

"You hear that from Wakka?" Tidus asked her without answering. "He doesn't believe me at all."

"But I believe you!" Yuna argued cheerfully. "I've heard in Zanarkand that there is great stadium, all lit up even at night. Great Blitzball games are held there and the stands are always full!"

"How do you know that?" Tidus asked in shock. "Did Harry tell you?"

"Harry." Yuna glanced up at where he stood in confusion but looked away when she met him eyes. "Why would he say that? He can't have seen it."

Tidus almost blurted out what he had promised to keep to himself. Harry was impressed that he didn't say anything. "He just seems like he believed me." He settled on instead.

"He's a bit of an enigma though. He knew my father and his guardians and he rescued Lulu but beyond the fact that he has secrets and he is hiding here nobody knows anything about him."

"Do you all trust him?" Tidus asked. "I mean everyone seems to respect him but everyone seemed so afraid of him."

"That's because everyone is." Yuna tried to laugh. "He's mysterious and he's too blunt about he dislike of Yevon."

"He seems so young though!" Tidus argued.

"Didn't you tell Lulu that you chatted to him earlier?" Yuna asked. Tidus nodded in confirmation. "What did you think about that?"

"He's creepy. He told me loads of things but now that I'm down here I don't understand half of what he said." Yuna laughed and Tidus brought the conversation back on track. "So who did tell you?"

"A man named Jecht told me." Yuna said. "He was my father's guardian."

"Harry said I should talk to you about Auron and Jecht." Tidus sighed yet again confused.

"Why would he do that?" Yuna frowned. "Wait! You know Sir Auron?"

"My father's name was Jecht." Tidus grimaced in anger. "It sounds like him but it can't be."

"Why not?" Yuna frowned.

"My old man died ten years ago. Off the coast of Zanarkand." Tidus explained. "He went out to sea one day for training and never came back."

Harry turned his attention away; he didn't need to hear their discussion over the possibilities of Jecht's existence. Harry had met him whilst breaking into Spira to destroy an ancient machina that they were trying to bring online. A rather potent bomb built by Zanarkand. He had been on his way out when they met again and he had travelled with them down to Djose Temple before he cross the inlands to reach the west coast.

Harry was jolted from his memories not from the boat rocking violently but from the feeling of power that suddenly swamped the boat and it wasn't his own. One of the sailors cried out and he and his friend ran for the deck harpoons. Harry almost laughed, if Sin was after them the harpoons wouldn't do anything to stop his attack.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Wakka cried. "Stick a harpoon in it and we'll all get dragged under!"

"Sin is going for Kilika! We have to distract it!" The sailor yelled. "Our families are in Kilika, please forgive us Lady Summoner."

Harry smiled slightly at their courage. They were willing to die on the extremely small chance of keeping Sin from their families. "Wait!" Wakka cried. "Oh, boy!"

The two guns fired after Yuna nodded her agreement and Harry's respect for her went up a notch. Both harpoons hit the fin that had risen from the water but one of the ropes snapped under the weight of the boat as it was dragged sideways through the water. Harry caught a glimpse of shimmering from the fin and braced himself. The Guardians below them pulled weapons and began to fight the dozens of sinspawn.

They were a mere distraction. Whereas Sin hadn't changed course Harry knew that a large Sinspawn would be waking and preparing an attack. Harry couldn't defeat Sin in this form but he could protect the boat if it came to that. He watched as Lulu sent a lightning spell at Sin's fin but Harry doubted the creature even noticed its effects. Harry found himself furious though when one of the Sinspawn got passed Tidus' blade and launched them both backwards. Kimahri looked up as a growl escaped his throat and a frown appeared across the Ronso's face. He swung his pike up under the beast and it exploded into Pyreflies saving Tidus.

Harry nodded at Kimahri before realising that it was time to act before Tidus got hurt, he was the only one he was really bothered about. He raised a hand and it glowed an eerie silver colour before five flashes of silver hit the masses of Sinspawn awaiting their chance to attack. Instead of striking and vanishing in an instant like a normal Thunder attack the Thundaga lingered before drawing together in a large jolt in the middle. A dome of electricity sprung out from the combined strikes and fried the water loving Sinspawn.

A lull in the battle occurred as the Guardians looked up at him and the Sinspawn crawled around with lightning jumping around them. Harry vaulted himself over the railing and landed with a thud on one knee on the deck below. He swung his sword in a wide arc to his right and severed the head of another of the Sinspawn before standing and surveying his 'allies' in amusement.

He looked directly at Yuna who was healing a wound that Wakka had sustained. "Only Valefor can make a dent in Sin." He told her. She looked nervous but nodded as she tried to bolster her courage. Harry walked across the deck through the Sinspawn making them back away from him as lightning danced along his sword. He knelt beside Tidus before grabbing his wrist and yanking him to his feet.

With his help the fight for the deck only lasted a few more minutes and when it was finished everyone sagged in exhaustion. Harry however looked across the two hundred metres of water at Sin knowing that the main mass of the creature was right underneath them. Valefor flew low towards it and sent her overdrive at it. The red laser that symbolised her Non-magical upbringing split through Sin's outer skin before leaving a trail of explosions across him.

Harry felt a build up of magic and since it wasn't him he knew it had to be sin. He spun on his heal. "Yuna, dismiss her!"

Yuna started to do it automatically without a second thought but Wakka stopped her. "Why?" He frowned. "She's doing more than we could."

"Spare her the pain, Yuna! Your Aeons are your first priority!" Harry growled out making Tidus, who was standing beside him, flinch.

It was too late though. The air around Valefor rippled with darkness before concentrated fire erupted from Valefor's very body. The flare ripped her apart and she exploded in Pyreflies. Her mental scream sent Harry to his knees and Yuna cringed. Harry had a greater bond with his friends than any Summoner could ever have.

The boat rocked before Harry could reprimand the new summoner and before he could react Tidus was vaulted clear of the side of the ship and into the water. Harry run to the side in time to hear a splash and see Tidus' unconscious face slipping deeper into the water. He vaulted over the railing in a rare show of concern over somebody else's health and noted dimly as he hit the water that Wakka did the same. The others could breath like Blitzballers could under water and they would assume that Harry knew how to do it.

In reality Harry just didn't need to breath. Whilst he liked having air in his lungs it wasn't really necessary to his life, he'd just be a tad on the pale side when he came back out of the water. Harry swam deeper and quickly found Tidus being attacked by swimming Sinspawn. He could have fried them all but the water would only kill Wakka and Tidus at the same time. Instead he pulled his sword and switched off the lightning capacitor before hurling it clean through the water. It sliced through the first two just as Wakka's spiked Blitzball hit the third.

Harry sent a curing spell at Tidus and watched as he jerked awake with a panicked look on his face. He must have been knocked unconscious when he hit the water so he hadn't had a chance to breathe in to start the process of breathing underwater off. Harry swam in close and grabbed the seventeen year old tightly before pressing his lips against his. He emptied the last of his air from his lungs into Tidus' before drawing back.

Tidus was shocked but glad and he grinned at him before checking himself for his sword. Harry reached out his own hand and his sword came spinning back to him from the depths. A shudder ran through the water and Harry glanced down to see a dark shadow approaching from below. Harry signed for them to both leave but they shook their heads.

He gestured with his hands and the water flexed forcing the two up through the water and into the air above it. Harry faced off with the eight tentacle-bearing creature that had been given life by Sin. He needed to deal with it quickly and with the least fuss but lightning was out of the question since he should be killed by it and he didn't want the others to know that he was immortal or they would simply freak out.

"_An eye for and eye, Jecht."_ Harry thought with a smirk before pulling up his magic and setting off a Flare. While he couldn't use Thunder magic against it and other elements wouldn't work that well, Flare was a non-elemental magic like its brother supermagic equivalent, Ultima. Flare would easily destroy this monster though it would sap Harry's strength since he hadn't used it in a long time. Soul stripping magic burst from the creature in the guise of flames and ripped it up. The shockwave of water threw Harry up to the surface and a large bubble of water erupted from the surface spraying the ship with water.

He landed again on one knee on the wooden deck of the ship and saw the stares he was receiving. He shrugged. "It blew up." He chuckled at their expression before leaving to relax for the rest of the journey.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Kilika Island**

When the S.S. Liki drew into the decimated port of Kilika Harry had slipped away unnoticed. The others planned on spending the rest of the afternoon and night in the town helping to clear up and make safe the houses that were weakened by the tornado-sea storm that Sin had summoned.

Harry slipped into Kilika Temple with ease since the normal summoners in training and priests were down in the town helping the wounded. Harry made his way through the Cloister of Trials knowing the route like the back of his hand. He didn't sneak into Besaid's Chamber of the Fayth often since the temple was heavily populated and in the middle of the Village. Kilika Temple was in the middle of the forest so slipping into and through the Cloister of Trials was easy work.

He walked into the Chamber of the Fayth with a small smile on his face. "Hello Neville."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**S.S. Winno**

Harry sat on the peak of the bow of the Kilika to Luca transport ship as it slipped through the water. It was a much longer journey than the Besaid to Kilika run so Harry was on his own on the deck. Yuna and Tidus had been out here for some of the evening but they had gone down to the cabins to get some rest.

Harry stared at the stars, the only things that were safe from his Aeon. They could stare down for eternity on the planet as it was destroyed without a second thought. His punishers were up there somewhere taunting him.

"You still up?" Tidus' voice made him jump slightly but he covered it by glancing back at the young man. He looked tired but not overly exhausted.

"I don't sleep that much." Harry admitted.

"Why not?" Tidus frowned.

"I've gotten bored of it." Harry laughed, he was telling the truth but Tidus didn't know that.

"Who are you really?" Tidus asked. Harry was surprised; the boy was quicker than he thought.

"I haven't lied to you, Tidus." Harry sighed. "I don't lie much but people would never understand who I am. Not even you."

"Why am I so special?" Tidus asked feeling vulnerable again. "Yuna treats me like some sort of superhuman because of who my father is but you make me feel insignificant."

Harry chuckled in amusement. "I don't mean to." Harry smiled at the boy before inviting him up onto the railing next to him with their feet dangling over the edge. Tidus, no matter their age difference, was almost at Harry's height so they looked like two childhood friends talking casually.

"You wanted me to come talk to you before we arrived at Luca." Tidus reminded him.

"I didn't necessarily mean at the expense of your own rest." Harry smiled at him again. He found it far too easy to relax around the boy and wouldn't have trouble spilling all his secrets to him. He'd told Tidus to come see him on a spur of the moment urge to have the Zanarkadian, dream or not, believe in him.

"I wasn't particularly feeling tired." Tidus shrugged.

"Even after killing that Sinspawn?" Harry asked referring to the fiend that they had run into on the pathway up to Kilika Temple. Harry had just spent the whole night talking to Neville when his friend had sensed its presence. By the time Harry had gotten out of the Temple and down the slope Tidus, Yuna and her guardians had defeated it.

Tidus shrugged again. "I didn't really do much." Harry gave him a sharp look and he shrugged a third time. "I mean, Yuna has Valefor and Ifrit, Lulu has her black magic and Wakka and Kimahri have been fighting fiends for their whole lives. I'm just a city dweller stuck in a world he doesn't understand."

"I'm sure you're more than that, Tidus. We are all nothing to begin with." Harry placated.

"Even you?" Tidus frowned. "You killed that monster easily enough."

"Even me." Harry told him with a bitter edge to his throat. "What I am now is my own fault and nobody else's."

Tidus frowned at him but decided to change the subject only half noticing when Harry's hand went to a chain around his neck only just hidden by his red sleeveless shirt and that high armoured collar that he always wore. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Tidus prompted.

"Oh yes." Harry jerked his hand away from the chain pretending he hadn't been caught in memories. "I know you are new here and that you'll be careful but don't trust everything people tell you no matter how much everyone else worships them."

"What do you mean?" Tidus stared at him. "Do you mean about what Yuna and Wakka say about you, how you hide things that you shouldn't?"

"Do they say that?" Harry chuckled to himself. He'd missed that opinion of himself. "I'm sure you've heard that I was hiding in Besaid?"

"I think it came up but I don't believe you did anything bad." Tidus told him.

"For a start I wasn't technically hiding, I was taking a break from irritating Yevon." Harry smiled wishfully. "Secondly in the eyes of the current political power I did do something bad."

"What did you do?" Tidus narrowed his eyes but it wasn't really aimed at Harry.

"Broke into the vaults in Bevelle and destroyed a few things." Harry laughed. "The amusing thing is that whilst the Yevonite political powers wanted me caught they couldn't admit what I did so I wasn't hunted down." Harry didn't mention the fact that since the second cataclysm he had been the target of eighteen man-hunts and two full out wars. He didn't think Tidus would want that sort of information.

"Why are you heading straight to Luca then?" Tidus asked. He, at least, trusted the older man.

"Like I said, I don't run from them." Harry laughed. "I want you to remember my words here. Don't trust blindly to people that believe themselves to be right over other peoples beliefs."

"All that concern for me?" Tidus questioned him.

"Yes." Harry told him honestly. "You may think you are insignificant but Sin brought you here for a reason so you are far from it. I'm sure Auron will have answers for you when you see him."

"You know more than you are letting on." Tidus glared.

"I know but as I said before, you all have too much to worry about without my story interrupting yours." Harry unconsciously brought his hand up to rest on his collar bone again in thought.

"Why can't you come with me?" Tidus asked brashly. "I don't know what's going to happen but you could stick around for a while."

Harry shook his head slightly. "I don't like to play the leading man, Tidus." Harry glanced at the crestfallen boy. "I don't know how long it will be before our paths cross again but I fully intend to keep an eye on the Lady Summoner for the time being."

"Why?" Tidus asked but Harry refused to answer so he switched topics hoping for something a little lighter. "What's that chain for?"

Harry looked up in surprise having not realised that he had pulled it out and was holding the intricate four pronged key in his hand. He opened his hand to show the seventeen year old. "It's a family heirloom; I don't know what it unlocks though." It was the first time he had lied to Tidus and he didn't like the feeling that settled in his chest.

"Oh right, do you have family around then?" Tidus asked.

Harry shook his head in the negative. "Not for a long time now."

"I'm sorry." Tidus whispered before hopping off of the railing. He stopped quickly and went slightly red in the face as he stumbled for words. "I just wanted to say thanks for saving me when I got knocked off the boat the other day."

Harry grunted an acceptance of the gratitude but didn't hear him leave as he slipped further into his own thoughts. He was tempted to throw the key into the waters but in time it could turn up again whether it was next year or in ten thousand years when the seas receded. He'd hold the key to his soul next to his heart since that was the only place he could ensure he always knew where it was.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Luca**

Harry took one look at the dock from the top deck and decided to avoid the multitude of cameramen that had arrived to watch the arrival of three of the Blitzball teams. He jumped from the front of the boat as Tidus and the Besaid Aurochs were introduced to the world. He hadn't intended to knock somebody over though, especially a Warrior Monk who took one look at him before beginning to shake in slight fear. Any other person probably wouldn't be bothered by his strange behaviour but by the look on the Monk's face he knew exactly who he was.

"Great!" Harry groaned as he watched the man reach for his gun. "Maester's personal guard?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

The man nodded slowly and aimed the short barrelled gun at Harry's chest. It had been an easy guess. Only the personal body guards of the Masters of Yevon had to memorise his features like that and only they knew how old and powerful he was though they weren't allowed to admit it to the public. They didn't however know _what_ he was which Harry found him self feeling rather pleased about.

"Surrender your sword!" The man said. Harry glanced around at the empty space. With so many people off watching the teams get off of the boat this section of the docks was empty. The Warrior Monk seemed to realise he was on his own as well since his gun shook slightly.

"Uh…No." Harry told him simply before he blurred in movement. He wasn't that much faster than a normal human but after so long training and using this body he could manipulate it with an ease and confidence which none other could copy. He snatched the gun from the man's hands and reversed it. He looked down at it in disgust before throwing it to the side and down into the water. "Do you even know what I'm capable of?"

The Warrior Monk was shaking so much now that Harry imagined that the man would have dropped his gun if Harry hadn't already liberated it. "They just don't train them like they used to. I used to have a challenge." The man's eyes widened but Harry just put him out of his misery with a sharp jab at the man's collar. Harry lowered the man carefully to the timber boards of the dock and checked him over. The Monk's eyes followed his every move since he wasn't unconscious but he was scared.

Harry stepped over him and began walking off wondering what sort of things Yevon had been telling its soldiers about him. He was interested in the fact that this administration seemed far more concerned about him. "_Surrender your sword."_ He didn't think he'd been asked that for five hundred years now, normally they fired to kill. Why did they want him alive?

Harry explored Luca looking for anything that had changed in the last five years since he had passed through with Lulu but found that very little had changed in those intervening years.

It was just before the Besaid Aurochs first game against the Al-bhed Psychs that he saw Yuna being escorted quietly through the town by two Al-bheds and taken onto their ship. Harry found it interesting that the Al-bheds would risk kidnapping a summoner, especially a famous one and definitely not one that happened to be the niece of their leader, Cid. Harry highly doubted it was a simple bribe against the Aurochs though he expected the Al-bhed team would take advantage of it.

It was a shame really. If they just disappeared out to sea with the ship now instead of threatening the Aurochs they'd be over the horizon by the time anybody found out she was missing. Harry did wonder the why though, it wasn't like the Al-bheds to risk making an enemy of Yevon, and their relationship was tentative at best when things were peaceful.

Not ten minutes later Lulu and Tidus were running passed and Harry found himself laughing, Tidus definitely made things amusing. He was tempted to go and help but the place was already swarming with Warrior Monk's searching for him. They'd even gotten the Crusaders on the look out for him and for some reason there were hundreds of them in Luca.

It was when the arrival of the final game happened that Harry saw something that he couldn't let slide. He had seen that Tidus was due to play in the last game and he had been on his way to watch since he hadn't really paid attention to the first one when he had walked around the ring corridor that the maintenance crew used to access the upper levels. Two Crusaders were being attacked by two Guacos and two pack wolves, evidently summoned by the Guido who were created by his Aeon when the human Beast Speakers came into contact with his Myst.

He took out the pack wolves before anybody had noticed him before blasting the two Gaudo off the railing and down the ten story side of the building to their deaths. Static filled the air from the lightning strike that had rushed from his hands. "Ouch! That has got to hurt." Harry laughed before turning to the two Crusaders. "Now how did I miss that one?" Harry muttered to himself before helping the two injured Crusaders to their feet.

"Harry!?" Gatta gasped.

"You have immaculate timing." Luzzu nodded before noticing Harry's sword in his hand. Harry had been careful not to use his sword around other people and had a backup one on Besaid but he only ever used this one on his travels. Luzzu put the clues together and gasped. "You're _the_ Harry! The traitor and fugitive."

Harry chuckled in amusement at their shocked faces. "Just remember, Luzzu, who was it that saved your arse from that Sinspawn that washed up on the shore two months ago and who was it that just saved you from becoming wolf meat."

Harry turned to leave but Gatta stopped him. "Where are you going?" Harry turned to see the boy pushing his hand against a teeth bite in his arm.

"To watch the game, that's why I am here after all." Harry laughed at their faces.

"Are you going to hurt someone?" Luzzu asked him with serious curiosity.

Harry laughed again and glanced down to the two Gaudo bodies at the bottom. "I'm just here for the game, Gatta. They just pissed me off. Undoubtedly they are up to something and I'll get the blame. May I suggest you don't tell anyone I saved you? They'll find a way to accuse you too."

With that Harry slipped off into the passageways to the audience stands. The games lasted for about half an hour with a break halfway, they couldn't last any longer since they started to run short on oxygen. Harry got up onto the top of the stands just as the second half started and he sat on the edge with his sword resting across his knees in a loose grip.

He watched as Tidus swam easily through the water as the game progressed. Harry knew something was going to happen though, he could feel it in the air, he just didn't know what it would be.

Just before the bell signalled the end of the game Tidus scored a second goal bringing the score to 2-1 in favour of the Besaid Aurochs. For the first time in years the Besaid Aurochs had not only won two games but beaten the reigning champions. Suddenly screams erupted from the stands but instead of being cheers they were ones of fear. Fiends began flooding the stadium and sphere pool and Harry stood from his seated position.

Crusaders were trying to keep people safe from the bloodthirsty creatures, protecting them from the air attacks and land ones. Harry could just about make out Harry and Wakka fighting off a dozen water fiends inside the pool.

"Why do things always happen around me?" Harry whispered to himself as he prepared a large scale attack. Lightning crackled through the air one blast after another striking everything that seemed threatening but the more he killed the more appeared. He needed the Gaudo backers dead before the attack was finished. He started drawing in energy from those he killed and storing it in his own core as he prepared to release what these people called and overdrive attack but that Harry referred to as losing control of ones magic and senses.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Below**

Tidus clutched his side as he breathed in huge gulps of air after helping Auron to kill off a huge armoured reptile. He almost cried out as a huge winged condor appeared from the lip of the balcony. It struck him and Wakka with a blast of air sending them both flying backwards into the wall. Auron managed to duck the majority of it but when he tried to retaliate the beast dodged his large silver and black sword effortlessly.

Tidus tried an attack but it dodged him as well and Wakka missed because of his blood dripping down into his eyes. Tidus was attempting to find something else to attack with when a blast of lightning struck the beast in the back. It spasmed briefly as it crashed to the ground before bursting into pyreflies. Harry focused through the pyreflies and felt his eyes drawn up to the left to a single figure standing on the roof of the stadium.

"What is that?" Wakka gasped as he wiped blood from his face.

Auron glanced up as he leaned on his sword casually. "An Overdrive." He grunted roughly.

"That's Harry!" Tidus cried as he ran to the railing as if the few metres would allow him to see his features better.

"**Call off your hounds!"** Harry yelled across the clamour and somehow his words reached everyone.

Tidus stared around in shock, there wasn't a single beast left in the stadium. What was Harry talking about?

Harry's sword, previously held loosely by his side, raised to point down across the dead Sphere pool at a balcony on Tidus' right. Four figures stood there when Tidus looked in the same direction. Maester Seymour, Grand Maester Mika and two strangely dressed warriors with guns.

"He's talking to Seymour. That's interesting." Auron muttered but Tidus was interrupted from asking why when Seymour shouted back though his voice was almost lost even in the absolute stillness and silence in the Stadium as everyone watched the showdown.

"We should have expected to see you here after such a horrible excuse for an attack on innocent citizens of Spira!" Seymour cried back. "Many people could have been killed here if it wasn't for our assistance. You have no regard for others lives. Do you think you're above everyone else?"

Harry's laughed echoed throughout the stadium sending shivers through everyone. "Why is he acting so evil?" Tidus said to himself.

"Because he never has cared what we all thought about him." Auron answered showing that he had heard perfectly well.

"**I don't think we've met Maester!" **Harry yelled again. "**Be so kind as to introduce yourself before judging me."**

"I am Maester Seymour Gaudo!" Seymour cried back before pulling a staff.

Harry laughed again. "**Do you even know why I am a wanted man? Why Yevon wants me or are you just another sheep?"**

"I am no sheep, Destroyer!" Seymour yelled back as he brought his staff up in front of him.

"He's a summoner!" Yuna gasped and Tidus looked at her in shock having not realised she and Lulu had arrived on their ledge.

Harry just seemed to stand their and watch as Runes surrounded the new Maester in a complex pattern that would summon an Aeon through in this world. "What's he waiting for?" Lulu asked quietly as she looked up at Harry. Tidus followed her gaze and found her question to be valid. Harry was watching in interest as Seymour brought an Aeon into the world to kill him.

"Harry was never one to end a fight quickly." Auron told them with what seemed to be amusement edging his voice. "A word of advice, Lady Yuna. Never summon against Harry."

"Why?" Yuna asked looking up with a frown at Harry. Tidus watched her carefully out of the corner of his eye. For some reason a part of him wanted to run up there and protect Harry. Yuna however seemed to be pondering summoning her own Aeons to help capture Harry.

Auron didn't answer though as they all watched a huge chain fall fro the sky and sink into the ground halfway up the stands. It started to retract and strain as it pulled something up through the floor. A huge cocooned creature came into reality covered in blood and tied with chains. They all gasped in shock at the look of intense pain on its face.

"**A new Aeon, Seymour! What have you done!?" **Harry looked deeply concerned. "**Aeon, dismiss yourself, I have no quarry with you!"**

"Anima answers only to me!" Seymour shouted before turning his attention on his newly formed Aeon. "Kill him Anima! For me!"

Anima screeched in pain before flicking its head at Harry. An explosion rocked the top of the stadium along with a sharp crack and Tidus almost screamed thinking Harry had been killed. Instead laughing just erupted from the cloud of dust and when it cleared they could all see Harry standing calmly with shattered stone around him. His sword was over his head and he was glowing a fierce white light.

"Whatever you do don't move." Auron ordered and even though everyone but Tidus glanced at him they did exactly as they were told. Tidus however just couldn't take his eyes off of Harry.

A ball of white light began to form over Harry's head, fed by the very air around the station so that the stadium itself began to ripple. Anima attacked with another screech but its attack was lost in the ball of white light. He saw Harry looked down and stare at Seymour with glowing eyes. "**Take the advice of your forefathers! Leave me be or be killed!"**

The white light exploded into hundreds of streaks of light, each one seemed to have taken the form of the beasts he had killed today and they cried out with a horrid screech as they flew in all directions before homing in on everything living in the stadium. Tidus felt his clothing being tugged around him as they brushed passed him but they ignored him. The only thing effect was Anima. One after another the white creatures swept into Anima and it screech in pain before exploding into pyreflies.

Seymour was shocked beyond belief. "Don't think this is the end, Destroyer. I wont let you reap pain on innocents!"

Tidus and everyone else looked up at where Harry had been but only ended up staring at an empty roof. Harry had gone. Tidus rounded on Auron. "Time for an explanation, Old Man!"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter

A/N; Next chapter we find out what Auron knows about Harry and they work out that maybe Harry isn't just a young man with a hate of Yevon. People might recognise Harry's Overdrive as one of Pennelo's Quickenings from Final Fantasy 12. It's such a cool attack that I couldn't resist.


	4. An Unknown History

Bound through the Ages

****

"Al-bhed."

Chapter 4; An Unknown History

****

Rin's Travel Agency; Mi'ihen Highroad

Harry walked into the travel agency as his stomach grumbled its protest, it was the only thing he regretted about his actions in Luca the day before. He hadn't been able to get food before leaving the city for the Northerly path and now he was ridiculously hungry even if lack of food wouldn't kill him he didn't want to end up looking like a wraith or something from a horror movie. At least an old horror movie since they didn't have that kind of thing anymore.

****

"Greetings." Harry looked up at the woman behind the counter.

"I'd like to get a hot meal if it's possible." Harry surprised her by replying in fluent Al-bhed with accent and all. Technically he had been speaking the language longer than she had been alive, or her mother before her and about six generations before that but he wasn't about to tell her that.

****

"I'm sorry Sir, but our meals are only available to residents." She smiled back at him.

****

"Harry!" A familiar, yet long absent, voice called over the shop drawing the six occupants' attentions to him. Harry turned to see Rin heading towards him with open arms. **"It's been so long."**

"Hello, Rin." Harry accepted the hug easily before pulling back as his stomach protested again. **"I'm sorry, Rin, but I can't stay more than an hour."**

"Who did you annoy this time?" Rin asked with a small chuckle.

****

"Um…Maester Seymour Guado I think was his name and I suppose Grand Maester Mika since he was there, plus half of Luca and everyone that came for the tournament." Harry winced. **"Supposedly I turned a horde of fiends loose on the unsuspecting innocents there and then killed Seymour's Aeon."**

The gasp of shock from the woman behind the counter was enough proof that she had been eavesdropping. **"A hot meal for Harry here. Now!"** Rin snapped at her and as she spluttered indignantly he continued. **"On the house of course. Come Harry tell me what really happened so that I can compare it with the rumours when they arrive."**

Harry settled down in Rin's private rooms and ate his lasagne with a childish delight as he told Rin about his journey so far. Rin knew he was older than he looked since Harry had saved him from the fiend that had killed his parents and given him some money to get home again. They had met up later when Harry had decided to find out if the Rin of Rin's Travel Agency was the same man and they had become quick friends helped along by their mutual mistrust of Yevon. Rin didn't know the truth about Harry though, there wasn't a soul alive that did though Seymour's use of the name Destroyer worried him. The last person that had called him that had died four hundred years ago along with his army after trying to kill him. That man had known about Harry's ties to the second cataclysm but Harry hadn't thought that he had documented it.

He hoped that this was a simple coincidence but he was worried all the same. Harry wrote a note before he left and left it in Rin's hands to pass on to Tidus when they arrived before he slipped out.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

****

Rin's Travel Agency; The next afternoon

Tidus stared at the small cliff side building with its huge arches that held up the roof and the walls. They had just decided to waste the rest of the day there and Tidus wasn't sure whether Auron's excuse that he was tired had anything to do with it or whether it was Auron's reaction to Tidus' downtrodden attitude since they had left Luca that morning.

Tidus wondered if Harry knew about where his father was now and couldn't help shake the feeling that he would have. He had been so sure about his meeting up with Auron and the aged Guardian knew so much about him, enough to watch that colossal fight in the stadium with amusement. The group split up as they settled for rooms but Tidus hung around in the shop, partly because he didn't want to enter his room that he would share with Wakka and partly because he was curious about all of the weapons and items on display.

"You must be Tidus then?" A voice made him jump from his viewing of a rack of three lightweight swords.

"That's me." Tidus nodded and left the end of the sentence open for the man to continue.

"My name is Rin, I own this agency and many others across Spira." Rin told him with a smile and a shake of the hand. "I'm afraid I have matters to attend to but I made a promise to give you this letter from a traveller who passed through here just last night."

"Thank you." Tidus accepted the letter before heading out of the agency and towards the edge of the cliff with the letter in hand. It was only a folded piece of paper but it was obvious that Rin hadn't read it or even touched it all that much. He settled down cross-legged and opened it.

****

'Tidus,

I must apologise for my abrupt departure but I prefer not to be in a place for too long especially when I have several hundred soldiers searching for me. There are only so many that I want to have to harm.

I hope that I don't have to tell you that I had no part in the attacking of innocents at the tournament, I was merely doing what I thought was necessary. If you do need convincing that there was another party involved then speak to Luzzu and Gatta who were the first to be attacked by them.

It may be better to not speak of this note to the others unless you are sure that they won't react too badly. I said that I would keep an eye of Lady Yuna however at this time it isn't safe to do so, so I leave her in your capable hands to protect.

I'll leave you with these few words of advice. Be careful of the Maesters as they are not what they seem. I wish I could explain everything about yourself, about your father, about Sin and myself to you but you would not be able to handle it. For now forget about it, put the things you can't effect to one side and focus on what you can control.

I will see you eventually.

Good Luck, Harry.'

Tidus folded the letter up with a small amount of anger. Harry must have known about his father, he knew so much and hid so much. He was about to go inside to find Auron when he noticed that they were all coming over to join him. He hurriedly tucked the letter away inside his jacket and took on an innocent air that he thought Auron probably saw right through.

"We wanted to have a chat together about Harry." Yuna told him as they all took seat apart from Kimahri who stood off to one side behind Yuna. "The woman behind the counter told me that somebody called Harry came through here and joked about attacking the innocents in Luca Stadium."

"So?" Tidus asked with a confused look. "There isn't much we can do now is there?"

"We should leave tonight and catch up with him." Wakka told them. Tidus felt a small amount of happiness at the idea of Wakka wanting to meet up with Harry, perhaps they would help him and they could travel together. "I mean we should at least capture him and hand him over to the Crusaders after what he did in Luca." Tidus felt his chest deflate.

"No." Auron stated bluntly.

"Why not?" Wakka argued still not used to Auron's leadership of the group.

"Because you are a guardian and your first priority is the safety of your summoner and trying to capture Harry will only result in serious wounds or your death." Auron told him sternly shutting Wakka up firmly.

"How do you all know Harry?" Tidus asked after a full minute's silence. "I mean you all seem to know him from somewhere else."

"He rescued me from the Calm Lands five years ago and helped me return home, he's been in Besaid ever since. I don't think he's even left the island in that time." Lulu told them all.

"Before that he escorted me and Kimahri from Bevelle during the beginning of the Calm." Yuna told them as the Ronso grunted his agreement. "And he told Tidus that he knew Sir Jecht and Sir Auron when they were on their pilgrimage. Is that true Sir Auron?"

"It is. He was leaving Bevelle when we first set out and accompanied us as far as the Djose Temple just north of here before going on his way. I saw him briefly in Bevelle a few years after the calm but never since." Auron told them gruffly.

"What do you know about him?" Lulu asked.

"All I know is that he was very powerful. To Jecht, Braska and I he seemed like a god when we began our travels." Auron admitted. "But that was a long time ago now, almost twelve years."

"But that would have made him thirteen when he met you the first time." Wakka frowned. "How could a thirteen year old be that powerful?"

"He told us that he was twenty when we first saw him." Auron told him.

"Which would make him thirty-two now?" Tidus put in. "Could that be right?"

"But he looks the same now as he did when I first saw him five years ago." Lulu pointed out, "How could somebody not age between twenty-seven and thirty-two?"

"From what I saw today of him I don't think he has changed at all in twelve years though that was at a distance." Auron put in.

"So he looks twenty-five and hasn't changed in twelve years." Yuna frowned. "There must be something wrong about him."

"He is simply an enigma." Auron smiled slightly. "Just be glad that he was there to protect us in Luca and when he escorted you three from Bevelle and the Calm Lands though I think Tidus knows more about him then he is letting on."

Auron's words made everyone's heads come up to look at him in surprise. He ignored them by asking his own question. "Who is the Destroyer?"

"I've never heard somebody being called that before." Auron shook his name. "Perhaps Maester Seymour was simply referring to the stadium after the attack."

The night drifted on with more talk about who Harry really was and all Tidus could think of was what was in the note and what Harry had told him on the boat about his history with Yevon. He hated Yevon almost as much, it seemed, as Yevon wanted Harry captured. Why would they want him alive though if they had to resort to powerful Aeon attacks to hurt him?

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

****

Djose Temple

Harry had stayed well clear of Sin's attack on the Djose shore. He had seen the crusaders and Al-bhed preparation as he snuck through the area and had known that it wouldn't work but there was nothing that he could have done to stop them or they just would have tried again. The problem he had was that he could feel Sin so immensely that he would have ended up trying to attack it which wouldn't have gone all that well, he had instead snuck into the Chamber of the Fayth in Djose Temple and meditated to prevent himself from going insane with the scent of death so close to him as well as Sin's power so close. The Fayth, Elizia, had stayed with him and her comforting presence had gone a long way to restoring his control.

The door to the room came alive at around midday and the form of a young man of about twenty five stepped into the room wearing summoner's robes. Another, perhaps twenty-two year old, man and a small boy were just visible through the door.

"I am so sorry." The man told him. "I did not mean to interrupt you but I did not hear the Song of the Fayth so I assumed the Chamber was empty regardless of the Temple's active state."

"I was talking to the Fayth, don't fret yourself. I will leave you in peace." Harry nodded before leaving the room just as Elizia began singing. He hummed along to the tune as he walked out of the room and down the steps to the waiting chamber beyond.

"Are you a summoner too?" The small boy jumped around in front of him. Harry felt himself smile kindly.

"Don't be so rude Pacce!" The twenty-two year old scolded the small boy, perhaps his brother. "Of course he is, he did just come from the Chamber of the Fayth."

"But he's not wearing robes, Maroda!" Pacce objected.

"He is correct, I am not a summoner but I was speaking to the Fayth, you could call me a Guardian but not to Summoner but to the Fayths." Harry told them. "My name is Harry."

"I'm Maroda and this is my little brother Pacce. My brother, Isaaru, is the summoner that you met just now." Maroda told him.

"It's a pleasure." Harry chatted to them for a while about the casualties from the attack that Harry had yet to see and soon Isaaru came out of the room with a strange look on his face.

"You are the Harry that everyone says attacked the stadium in Luca." Isaaru spoke up with a frown on his face.

"I did not realise that gossiping was part of the normal address to a Fayth, young Summoner." Harry retorted without denying the accusation.

"We should hand you over to the Temple Priest." Isaaru told him.

"It would be a waste of your valuable energies and even if you succeeded the Temple Priest would not be able to hold me in custody." Harry told him.

"Not even with Ixion under his control?" Maroda pointed out rather than asked.

"I just spent the night talking to this Fayth, do you, after spending ten minutes with her Isaaru, believe that she would attack me?" Harry questioned.

"No." Isaaru said. "She told me to speak of our meeting to nobody for the sake of all."

"That's a new one." Harry laughed. "Do you plan on following her advice?"

"Yes, we will respect her wishes and continue on our pilgrimage." Isaaru nodded to his two brothers. "With the respect she spoke about you I hope that we meet again."

"And I you, be careful on your pilgrimage." Harry bowed slightly. "Good luck to all three of you."

The trio left and Harry decided to let Elizia rest in peace for a time as he collected his thoughts in the centre of the waiting chamber. All of the Fayth's were speaking to him in riddles, even Hermione and Ron. Even the newer ones like Ixion and he knew that the only one that could give him proper answers was Bahamut in the depths of Bevelle since he was the only one that was a summoner of Zanarkand in his own right, young as he was when he helped to unleash Harry.

He was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't hear the door behind him open or the people enter until they went silent as they saw his distinctive black combats and red sleeveless-high collared shirt. His sword was still resting in its sheath against the wall where he had left it to speak to Maroda and Pacce.

He spun to face the familiar six as he reached out his hand and used a highly controlled air spell to bring his sword into his hand. "Harry!?" Tidus gasped.

Yuna already had her staff in front of her and was preparing a spell. "You can't summon in here without Ixion's permission." Harry told her as he strapped his sheath over his back. She seemed to realise this and glanced towards the Chamber of the Fayth in desperation. "Go ahead." Harry chuckled. "Go and pray to her, but she still won't give her permission for you to summon against me if you had an Aeon that would attack me."

"What do you mean?" Yuna frowned.

"Listen to Valefor and Ifrit, Lady Summoner." Harry told her, "Would they attack me even under your orders." She seemed to concentrate for a few moments before sighing deeply.

"No." She whispered.

"The Fayths have a certain respect for me and won't attack me." Harry explained. "I promise I'm not here to hurt you. I came here last night to escape the battle before Sin could arrive."

"You fled from it while others died?" Wakka frowned.

"I left the area before it started. I knew the plan wouldn't work and that my presence would have only complicated things." Harry told them and saw them relax, baring Tidus and Auron. The Besaid Islanders had all known him for years and he had never tried to hurt anyone.

"What about what happened in Luca?" Lulu asked.

"I asked Gatta about that and he said that you saved them from the real attackers but they didn't want to say who they were." Tidus put in surprising everyone.

"You got my note then." Harry smiled at the seventeen year old feeling rather glad to be back near him. He turned to the others. "I promise that I had nothing to do with attacking innocents that day. I won't speak yet of who the real attackers were but I only acted to stop the attack and then to defend myself from Anima when Seymour summoned her."

"Her?" Yuna frowned. "I thought Aeon's wouldn't attack you?"

"The ones I know won't but Anima is new and extremely powerful." Harry admitted. "She'll like me when she gets to know me, everyone does in the end." Harry grinned childishly.

"I seem to remember you saying the same thing to Braska, Jecht and I when we first met." Auron grumbled, "And then you beat Jecht numerous times."

"He seems to like me now though wouldn't you think?" Harry's expression got serious as he narrowed his eyes at Auron. Auron deflated and Harry spun on Yuna. "With your permission, Lady Yuna, I will accompany you until my services are either no longer wanted or no longer needed."

Yuna nodded after a glance at each of the others. If Harry was planning to kill them he could just have done it then and there and they all knew it. They just weren't strong enough yet. "Yuna, you had best go speak to the Fayth." Lulu prompted her and Yuna dashed off up to the Chamber of the Fayth.

"Auron, could I have a word out in the corridor?" Harry demanded rather than asked. He wanted answers as to why Auron had brought Tidus into this world and he didn't want to wait any longer for them.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	5. The Guardian

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 5; The Guardian

****

Djose Temple - Cloister of Trials

Harry led Auron down the stairs to the last chamber of the Cloister, a cloister he knew off by heart as he did all of them. He could hear the Fayth singing and it gave him strength, they were his old friends, the only beings on this planet in almost the same situation as himself and of even remotely the same age.

Harry sighed before turning on the undead man watching him. "Spill it, Auron." Harry snapped using an old Earth slang that he hadn't used in about a century. Auron frowned at him. "What do you know?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Auron told him.

Harry didn't like it when people tried to make a fool out of him and before Auron could react Harry was attacking. He snapped out his hand as he called a spell into motion, a spell that he almost never used unless travelling through the more dangerous parts of the world.

The air around Auron went black as Myst formed around him before ripping through Auron's body tried to tear out his soul. The spell was hard to block when it worked which was little over half the time depending on the Mage. Harry's Death spells barely ever failed when he put everything into them but it still hit Auron. The spell should have ripped his soul out of his body and cast it on to the next world but in this case it simply faded from existence sensing no soul in the man's body. Auron staggered slightly and hand to lean against a wall.

"Give me one good reason not to tell Yuna to perform a Sending!" Harry snarled out as he stepped up into Auron's personal space. The building shuddered slightly and Harry noticed that the Song of the Fayth had paused in complaint against use of such magic within the Temple.

Auron gasped for breath getting over the pain of a Death spell even though it hadn't killed him. "I'm staying to protect Yuna and Tidus."

"Why?" Harry backed up a step and calmed himself.

"Because I promised their fathers I would."

"Before Jecht volunteered to base the Final Summoning off of him?" Harry stated rather than asked. "But why are you dead then?"

"She didn't tell us that Jecht would…" Auron trailed off before he said it and Harry took pity on him.

"Would replace Sin?" Harry asked. Auron nodded. "It has always been that way, ever since it's creation. A pointless cycle."

"I went back to argue with Yunalesca but when I tried to kill her she killed me." Auron told him. "I lingered to fulfil my promise."

"Passing between this World and the Sleeper's World to protect them both." Harry sighed and ignored Auron's shocked gasp. Harry smirked at him. "Oh, I know all about that World and what Tidus really is. But what I want from you is to know why you brought him here."

"How could a mortal travel to Zanarkand?" Auron asked not having known that it was called the Sleeper's World.

"There is more to me than being a simple Mortal, Auron. Now answer my question." Harry snapped.

"I felt Jecht trying to get to Tidus so I went to help bring him over to this world." Auron told him. "How do you know about Zanarkand?"

"I know everything about Zanarkand. I've seen it." Harry told him. "Let's just say I stumbled across it when I was younger." Technically he was younger when he had first walked into the City of Zanarkand though he'd let Auron think he meant the Sleeper's World and that it had been recently and not one thousand five hundred odd years ago.

Auron frowned at him but both heard the sound of two sets of footprints coming up through the Cloister of trials. Harry saw the door to the Chamber of the Fayth start to close as Ixion reset this room and Harry and Auron darted through it. Harry stopped on the stairs to look back at Auron. "What I want to know is why Jecht wanted Tidus here and why he was sent to me in Besaid." It wasn't a question.

"I assumed he was sent to Yuna." Auron told him. "And that Jecht wants Tidus to kill him."

Harry thought about it, wanting Tidus to kill him was a logical reason and he had thought about it himself for a time but being sent to Yuna didn't make any sense, he had been sent to the Ancient temples first where his own power lay dormant and that spoke more about it than anything else. Obviously Jecht knew who he was and wanted Tidus to know as well but he wasn't planning on letting any of them know about the true power that hid in him.

Harry leant his back on the wall and closed his eyes as he let the Song of the Fayth float into him and soothe him like it always did. He lifted a foot and propped it up against the wall as he relaxed.

He only opened his eyes again when Tidus poked him in the side. He didn't flinch though and simply opened his eyes to stare at the seventeen year old who nodded at the door where a summoner and a guardian had just arrived. They all seemed to recognise each other though Auron and he didn't know who they were. Harry looked the woman over, she was pretty in a stuck up sort of way but reminded him of the anorexic models of Earth. The guardian in complete contrast was built like a tank with shaved hair and a rather stupid, yet devoted, look on his face that reminded him of ancient people long dead.

"Oh it's you. Still travelling with quite the crowd I see." She said. Harry opened his senses to her, she was a powerful summoner yet not as powerful as Yuna could become. The problem was that this summoner had much less emotion holding her back and would more likely choose to summon him. "What is it Barthello? You know this riffraff?"

Her guardian, Barthello, was standing in front of Auron with a dazed look on his face. "You are Auron, no?" The tank asked.

"What of it?" Auron grunted.

"Can...I shake your hand?" He gushed and Harry almost laughed. "Auron…no, Sir Auron. You're the reason I became a guardian!"

Auron chuckled but did shake his hand and Harry relaxed slightly. Barthello held on tightly. "Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me!"

"Calling the personal guardian of Lord Braska riffraff?" Wakka chuckled.

"And you call yourself a summoner?" Lulu added in snidely.

"Enough." Harry snapped before anyone could tease her further. No summoner should be mistreated, it would only push them to take more drastic measures to prove themselves and weaken their morals enough to use him to kill Sin. Harry pushed away from the wall as everyone turned to look at him. "She is a summoner. And powerful too though she does need to keep her self-confidence in check. What is your name?"

Harry came to a halt half a metre from her. "My name is Dona." Harry caught her eyes and looked closely at her expression and mannerisms. He could sense that she already had Bahamut within her as well as Valefor and Ifrit. Evidently she was a city dweller. Having Bahamut in her inventory so early in her pilgrimage gave her a massive advantage over Yuna since her own Aeons were only elementals which Bahamut, as a neutral, was stronger than. Also she would have had to have twice the training before becoming a summoner in order to accept Bahamut into her.

"My name is Harry. Can you already summon Bahamut successfully?" Harry asked knowing that a lot of Bevelle's summoners accepted Bahamut and then continued their training until they were powerful enough to summon him.

A smile spread across her face, the first since arriving. "I have several times, especially in Macalania forest."

"Then you have my respect." Harry bowed his head though he didn't make the usual prayer.

"Your sword." She frowned as she spied the handle on his back. "That is forbidden Machina."

"So it is." Harry nodded. "Yet it serves me well and has for years. If Barthello was most effective with forbidden Machina would you not wish him to have it to protect himself as well as you."

She watched him silently for a moment before nodding. "You are a strange one to be a guardian. You are new at this?" She asked obviously not seeing him with this group before.

"I have been a guardian many times before." Harry told her truthfully. Even he couldn't remember how many times he had made the pilgrimage. He had spent a sizeable chunk of his life escorting summoners.

"Have you ever completed the Pilgrimage?" She asked him.

Harry just smiled at her. To say anything about that would give himself away. "Keep your emotions in mind, Summoner Dona and Bahamut will never lose his respect for you."

At that moment Yuna stumbled out of the Chamber of the Fayth. A change seemed to come over Dona's face and Harry sighed before stepping aside. Kimahri was helping Yuna to stand and Harry frowned, she hadn't used her summons enough and wasn't really ready for Ixion. He'd have to change that. Dona on the other hand was powerful with her Aeons because she obviously summoned them a lot, evidence of two things. The first that she only had one guardian and therefore needed to use her own Aeons to protect themselves whereas Yuna could almost become a passenger and healer on her own pilgrimage. The second thing was that Dona wanted to prove herself as well as complete her pilgrimage and pushed herself to achieve it. Under normal circumstances Harry would offer to escort her, she was the type of Summoner he liked but he had already promised to escort Yuna.

"You owe much to your father. All these guardians...and Sir Auron, too?" Dona told her before glancing at Harry. "And I hear Maester Seymour's quite taken with you. The world must look different when you're the daughter of Lord Braska."

"This has nothing to do with my father!" Yuna countered. "I am travelling on my own, as a full-fledged summoner."

"Oh, is that so? Then try standing on your own two legs for once." Dona challenged. "Your guardians won't be able to protect you when the time comes."

Harry glanced at Tidus who frowned at the phrase and Harry realised that nobody had told him the consequences of a pilgrimage. Harry nodded to Dona again and she headed into the Chamber of the Fayth. "Let's go." Harry announced before turning to the door.

"Wait!" Wakka rounded on him. "What was all of that about? Why are you being so friendly to her?"

"Why am I being friendly to a summoner?" Harry turned to him and glanced at Lulu too. "All summoners deserve our respect especially one that was capable of summoning Bahamut, the fifth most powerful Aeon in Spira within the first month of her pilgrimage."

"Why does that make her powerful?" Tidus asked stopping anyone from commenting on Harry saying that Bahamut, known as only weaker than the Final Summoning, was the fifth strongest. Harry himself was glad that they hadn't noticed his slip up. He'd accidentally used his on Aeon in that count.

"Yuna, if she prayed to the Fayth at Bevelle at this moment, would probably not be capable of summoning Bahamut. A summoner must channel the Aeons power and it has been known to weaken them to the point of death before." Harry told him. "That is why the pilgrimage is necessary otherwise they would not be strong enough to channel the Final Summoning."

"Oh." Tidus frowned. Harry smiled at him and he smiled back weakly getting over his confusion.

"Speaking of which Yuna," Harry turned to the tired Summoner. "You were not ready for Ixion. As soon as we are on the road you will be taking your fair share of the fighting otherwise you will not be ready for Shiva or Bahamut when the time comes."

"I'm strong enough to accept them, we can train before Zanarkand." Yuna argued.

"No." Harry told her simply before spinning out of the room with a chuckle as Auron told the same thing to the disgruntled summoner.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

****

The next morning

Harry had just directed Gatta, a survivor of Sin's attack, back to Besaid with a bag of money to keep him going when Yuna came running out of the Temple after sleeping in. She and Harry had spent the night casting what healing magic they could on the survivors but Yuna, unlike Harry, had exhausted herself. She cast him an annoyed look as he smirked at her.

"Let's go." Harry suggested knowing that she was irritated that he had proved himself the better healer. Really it was a case of him being a better Mage just like she was a better Summoner than him even if he couldn't summon. He'd met Summoners who were Black Mages before and even a couple that fought with swords or guns, it was only in the last few hundred years that Summoners had taken to using only their rods and staffs to fight with and had stuck to white magic to aid their guardians.

Harry walked slowly down the road with Tidus at his side and the others behind them. "Where are we heading?" Tidus asked.

"From here we continue up the Eastern coast to the Moonflow, a large river estuary which used to be a massive city. It is an easy path as far as walking goes but it is a good placed to be ambushed by small fiends as well as a few larger and nastier ones." Harry told him.

"I want to talk to you about something?" Tidus suddenly asked.

"Now? Or later?" Harry didn't seem phased by the question.

"Later would probably be best." Tidus muttered with a glance over his shoulder at the others. "And I'm not going to let up until you give me the answers I want."

Harry chuckled lightly before nodding his agreement. He'd be honest with the boy since he couldn't possible ask the worst question. He glanced at the others as they finally entered the wilderness though the path they were following was well used by carts and therefore rather wide. "Let's see how much you have learnt since we last met."

With that they made their way through the forest that split Djose's rocky shore with the plains to the north where the Moonflow sat. At first they were only faced with small fiends that Harry left to Tidus and the others. Sometimes he'd step in to ward off the larger fiends and shocked even Auron by killing them in one slash of his sword whereas it took the others several strikes and ganging up on them to kill them. Wakka quickly learned to respect him when he killed a fire flan with his sword even though they were immune to almost any physical attack. Wakka had told him to let Lulu handle it after she killed the other flan but Harry had simply charged the sword from its ice cell and killed the flan that would about to cast a strong fire spell at the group.

It wasn't until after their lunch stop that they were attacked by something with more strength. It dropped down from the trees in front of them and Auron confused it by blinding it with a slash of his sword. Harry chuckled at the man's attack having not had to use such an attack in a long time. Wakka caught onto the idea and cast a sleep spell that he had learnt on his Blitzball before throwing the weapon at the Ochu which fell into a slouch.

Auron stopped Tidus from attacking though. "Ochu's have very high health. We will leave this one as it is and go around it. We will be far enough away before the spells wear off."

Tidus looked between the four metre tall fiend and the others before looking at Harry and sighing. "Actually." Harry spoke up making them all turn back to him. "I think we will kill it."

"It would take a lot of time and energy to kill it. Not to mention a few antidotes." Auron countered him.

"Even so, Yuna's Aeons need training and this is a perfect fiend to test them against." Harry rounded on the summoner. "Summon Ifrit, Yuna."

"He doesn't have enough strength to last long enough against an Ochu!" Yuna countered.

"Yet he should do." Harry told her. "Summon him Yuna."

She braced herself up and pulled her rod out of her waistline. Tidus sidled over to Harry even as she began her dance to summon Ifrit. "Wouldn't Valefor be better against a plant?" Tidus asked him.

"Ochus, and most other plant based fiends are weak against fire and by bring out an elemental Aeon we can use our own black magic to heal it and keep it going almost indefinitely." Harry told him though not loud enough for Yuna to hear him. She had to learn to ask for help from her Guardians when she summoned.

Ifrit burst from the floor and set Yuna on the ground carefully behind him just as the Ochu woke up. Ifrit glanced at Harry who grinned at his old friend Neville. He'd always found it ironic that his plant loving friend had become a fire Aeon who was most effective against plant type fiends. Ifrit lashed forwards and with a somersault ripped into the main body of the many armed fiends with his front claws and then back legs as he propelled himself back towards their group.

"Focus on your fire attacks, Ifrit!" Yuna told him and Ifrit glanced at her before summoning two fire balls above his hands that semi solidified before being thrown across the gap. As soon as they hit their mark they exploded outwards making the Ochu scream in pain and lash out with its tendrils. Ifrit half dodge but still received two slashes to its chest as the poisoned tendrils cut deep into his flesh. Harry knew that the poison would have no effect but the cuts still seemed rather painful to his friend.

Tidus itched to help but Harry placed a restraining hand on his arms. "He'll be fine." Harry told him. "An Ochu's vines can slash through skin, flesh and bone and the poison can kill in minutes. It is better to only fight them from a distance with magic or Aeons."

Tidus half glared at him in irritation at being made to stand on the sidelines. "So what do we do?"

"You shield the summoner from other attacks while she concentrates on her Aeon." Harry told him with a gesture to where Auron had just finished off a wolf that had tried to sneak up on the group while they were distracted.

Harry watched from the sidelines knowing that the Ochu could sense his strength and wouldn't come after him with so many other targets. Ifrit was taking a beating though since this Ochu seemed very old and very strong. Yuna was looking more and more worried though as Ifrit began to fall to attrition. She raised her rod to dismiss Ifrit but Harry shouted out to stop her.

"Think, Yuna! Heal him!"

"What?" She shocked herself by listening to him.

"Fire heals him." Harry told her. Ifrit had been using fire spells on himself throughout the battle.

"But he's out of magic!" She told him with a glare.

"But Lulu isn't." Harry told her and her eyes widened with a glint in them as she realised the possibilities.

"Lulu!" Yuna turned slightly but her friend had heard the conversation and was already casting a newly learned Fira on Ifrit. She slashed her hands outwards and fire erupted from the floor around Ifrit as he was enveloped in it. He drew himself up slightly and Harry decided to take pity on him since he had let him weaken to this point to prove to Yuna that she had other people to help her. He lifted his hands to the sides and they both flared with fire as he summoned the highest elemental level fire possible.

He snapped his hands forwards and the battle erupted into a huge ball of molten lava and flames. They heard both Ifrit and the Ochu roar but one was in pain while the other was because he was being healed and over boosted. Harry's Firaga settled into the ground leaving rivers of lava around Ifrit's feet that he fed from. He was in perfect health again and even as the rather burnt Ochu lashed out again the cut he received healed instantly as the pool of fire still at his feet healed him.

"A Summoner and their Aeon is not alone in a battle, Yuna." Harry lectured ignoring Lulu's horrified look at the most powerful magical attack they had ever seen. They had seen Maester Seymour cast a high level Firaga attack on the Sinspawn during the battle at Djose shore but it paled in comparison to Harry's attack. For one thing it hadn't lingered on as pools of lava.

After Harry's attack had taken off a sizeable chunk of the Ochu's health the battle was easily won and a happy Ifrit was dismissed from their reality to sleep while the rest, even Harry, rested for a while. The Firaga had been fed by a lot of Harry's reserves in order to overpower it and make a point but it had been a long time since he had channelled so much power and then it had only been with his Flare attack on the ships.

Throughout the rest of the day they attacked anything that ambushed them and Harry was pleased with Yuna's lack of complaint over almost constantly summoning Aeons against any enemies that wouldn't fall to a single strike.

It was an exhausted group that finally settled down that evening around a campfire started by a fire spell from Lulu. Harry decided to do his share and cook some of the food that they had for the evening and made a point of making sure that they remembered to restock their supply when they reached the Moonflow.

Harry settled onto the floor with his back against a rock and realised after a moment that instead of getting an early start on a nights rest the others were sitting around the fire in a position that meant that they planned to talk to him. Interrogate him would probably have been a better term to use.

"What did you mean by Bahamut being the fifth most powerful Aeon?" Yuna asked him. "I was taught that there was only one Aeon more powerful than Bahamut."

"The Final Summoning." Wakka put in with a slight amount of awe to his voice. Though Harry had witnessed the Final Summoning three times and it was an impressive thing to see, no actual Aeon was summoned, it was more of a force that came into existence using the Summoners and their chosen Guardian as a stepping stone. To somebody that had never witnessed it, it would be all the more awe inspiring.

"What are the others you mentioned?" Yuna asked. Harry looked around and knew he wouldn't get out of it that easily though he was glad he could count Ron as one of them even though he wasn't technically stronger than Bahamut he could have his moments.

"Anima?" Tidus frowned as Harry paused to collect his thoughts. Yuna glanced at him but knew that he was correct.

"He is right. Anima is two places above Bahamut by my reckoning." Harry told them. Harry glanced at Lulu who knew the next one. "An Aeon called Yojimbo is slightly more powerful than Bahamut when he wishes it." Lulu looked down at the floor giving credence to Harry's assumption that that was where she had been before he found her. "The last are actually a trio that fight together. The Delta sisters are the next most powerful Aeon after the Final Summoning."

Harry was quite proud of himself in the way he worded it knowing that he hadn't lied in their positioning but still hadn't made it clear that there was a Aeon more powerful than the Final Summoning.

"How do you know about them all?" Wakka asked him.

"I have travelled a lot and made it a point to ignore most that people take as fact." Harry told them all. "It is only then that we can really learn about the true powers in this world. Powers that Bevelle only avoid by hiding them from the population."

"But recently they are loosing control of the most powerful things in this world." Auron put in.

Harry laughed heartily. "Auron, my old friend. Yevon never controlled the great powers of this World."

"What about the Final Summoning?" Yuna countered.

"First used by Lady Yunalesca as you should well know but what is not so widely known was that she was one of the sole survivors of Zanarkand before it's destruction." Harry lectured. "She would have happily used that power to destroy Yevon."

"You can't be serious!" Wakka sounded outraged.

"It can understand that it may come as a shock to find out that the most powerful force in this world is against the religion you base so much in." Harry told them his voice dangerous. "Much of their true history is hidden and one day it will be made known to the world."

Harry stood slowly from his place on the ground and stretched his cramped muscles with a sigh. Wakka seemed to want to continue their argument. "Get some rest." Auron spoke up seeming to take Harry's words in his stride, he knew the truth about Yu Yevon after all. "We leave early in the morning to get to the Moonflow by noon."

Harry started climbing a small rise of rocks near to the camp and reached the top five minutes later. From there he could see down over the campfire and the rest of the group while being able to see the rising Pyreflies of the Moonflow out to the North.

Harry stared out at the scenery and almost jumped when he felt a body brush against his side as somebody sat beside him. Harry glanced over at Tidus who had sat with his legs hanging over the edge of the small cliff even as Harry sat cross-legged at the edge. Harry let his feet fall off the edge and sighed. "I'm going to be honest with you Tidus because one day you are going to find out and I want it to be when things are peaceful rather than in a dangerous situation. All I ask is that anything we discuss stays between us."

"Ok." Tidus told him with a small smile. "I wouldn't normally pry but you've got me really confused. I mean I'm already confused about everything but then you are in a completely different league to how confusing everything else is. I know this is your World but you don't seem to fit into it."

"Nor do you." Harry told him seriously. "What do you want to know?"

"Who are you really?" Tidus asked.

"That's a rather broad question. I admit I haven't told you everything but for now I can't." Harry told him.

"Fine then." Tidus sighed. "What did you mean by seeing Zanarkand?"

"Do you mean your Zanarkand?" Harry asked and received a nod. "I have visited it in my mind. It runs beside this one." Harry held up a hand suddenly to stop Tidus annoyed retort. "_You_ are not ready to hear anymore about that one."

Tidus let out an irritated sigh before remembering the discussion at Rin's travel agency. "How old are you?"

"How old?" Harry laughed. "Can't you guess?"

Tidus threw him a small glare. "Everyone knows you from a different time but by my guess you'd have to be at least forty to have done everything that the others say you have. And how can Seymour hate somebody like he hates you if you haven't stirred up a lot of trouble over years."

"This is something I have only admitted to one person in my life." Harry sighed knowing that it was inevitable. "Do you remember Wakka telling you that Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago?" Tidus nodded warily. "I was there."

Tidus frowned thinking he was being made fun of before he caught Harry's eyes and saw only truth there. "You're a thousand years old?" Tidus gasped.

"Actually I'm older than that. Do you remember being taught about the Great Calamity?" Harry asked knowing that the Sleepers had kept world history the same in order to make things more realistic for the minds of their population.

"A thousand years before I was born. Zanarkand rose from the ashes according to legend and the world changed shape." Tidus frowned again wondering what Harry was getting at.

"The world was called Earth before the Calamity. Afterwards they renamed it Spira though the name was only used by the Yevonites." Harry told him. "When I was mortal I lived in a small country on Earth. I was turned immortal after the Great Calamity as punishment for my part in it."

"You're two thousand years old." Tidus gave him an awed gaze that was half confused and half petrified. Harry sighed slowly and looked down the edge of the cliff. "How is that possible?"

"I was punished by those that reside amongst the stars, Gods I supposed they could be called, because of something that I did. Their punishment was to walk upon the World without being able to die."

Tidus looked at him carefully for a few minutes and Harry just stared off into the distance. "So no weapon can kill you?"

"No, I could jump off of the tallest Cliff in Spira and only get broken bones. My heart beats and I breathe but I don't need either to survive." Harry sighed. "It really is the worst punishment imaginable. We had some pretty nasty stuff on Earth to condemn people with but this is the worst."

"Why would immortality be so bad?" Tidus asked.

"A saw my own world die, I saw Yevon and Zanarkand destroy each other. I watched Zanarkand, my home, destroyed around me, I saw the creation of Sin and I saw his countless rebirths over a thousand years." Harry drew his arms around him not realising when he started how much this would effect him. "I have had to watch the one man I loved die of old age while I remained in the body of a twenty-five year old. I have watched countless friends die of old age or war. I have led more Summoners and Guardians on the pilgrimage than I can remember. And I have made enemies of the history books so that I can never truly be free of my enemies."

"Seymour knows who you are?" Tidus asked him. "Is that why he attacked you in Luca?"

"I don't know how he found out but he called me the Destroyer which is the name I was given four hundred years ago." Harry sighed. "I don't know if he knows what I really am and what I am capable of."

"I don't care what you are." Tidus told him. "You're helping us protect Yuna and that is enough for me."

Harry snapped his head around at Tidus' tone and saw only trust there though he was obviously still reeling from shock. "I'm not here just to protect Yuna. There is a power that I didn't mention before. An Aeon more powerful than Sin. I'm here to make sure that she doesn't use it. A task that I have always done throughout the years."

"An Aeon more powerful than Sin. Can't we use it then?" Tidus asked.

"No." Harry told him simply. "Any summoner with enough training and power could summon it but no summoner could ever control it. The power needed transcends what mortals could ever gain. That Aeon has only been summoned twice. Once when Aeons first came into being and once at the end of your Zanarkand."

"The Great Calamity?" Tidus asked.

"Yes. The Aeon destroyed the world and killed billions of people." Harry sighed. "Then the Summoners of Zanarkand summoned it again when they lost the war and it destroyed everything a second time."

"So why are you with us here? If you're not here to protect Yuna why are you here?" Tidus asked.

"To make sure she doesn't try to summon it, even if I have to kill her I will to stop it from being summoned." Harry told Tidus seriously. "But that isn't the main reason for my presence."

"What is then?" Tidus almost snapped.

Harry pulled his knees up into him and pushed himself to his feet. Tidus scrambled up behind him. "Your father brought you to this World but he took you first to where this Aeon's power resides. It's Chamber of the Fayth I suppose. For some reason Jecht wants you to know about it and then Jecht brought you to Besaid."

"To Yuna so I could go with her." Tidus put in remembering what Auron told him.

"That's what I let Auron believe." Harry told him before half turning around to face the cliff. "Jecht didn't take you to Yuna, he brought you to me and I don't understand why."

"Why though?" Tidus frowned.

"I don't know." Harry almost yelled. He threw out a hand in anger and released wave of unspecified magic and shattered a nearby boulder into shards. "The Fayths wont tell me." He snarled before jumping from the top of the cliff. He flared his hands to either side and an Aero spell slowed his descent so that when he hit the ground below him it was only with a force that jarred his knees and spine. At least Tidus couldn't follow him down that way and Harry could be alone with his thoughts as he made his way through the forest decimating the night-fiends on his own way to the Moonflow.

He'd just have to meet them there.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

****

Moonflow - Shoopuf ferry crossing

Harry waited silently at the ferry dock, he'd arrived early in the night hours of the morning and had slept in the small shelter there for the night before buying the supplies that he knew the group needed.

Now he simply had to wait for the others to arrive within the next few minutes. A kid had come flying in not ten minutes ago and warned everyone that the great Lady Yuna was on her way and Harry had almost laughed at the kid remembering the long hazy memories of the way people greeted the long dead Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. He was so glad that Harry Potter was now dead and forgotten.

He'd learned some interesting things while he waited though. According to some travellers that had passed a summoner had almost been kidnapped on the far shores not long ago and that another had vanished along with his guardians near to the Guado city. Harry frowned wondering what could be attacking and kidnapping guardians and summoners but he figured that he would work it out eventually. That or he'd find out when it attacked them. Whatever it was it couldn't know that it would attack a two thousand year old immortal and he'd simply deal with it.

A cry of greeting around the corner caught his ears and he turned his head to see Wakka and Luna walk around the corner. Kimahri came next with Yuna the centre of attention beside him. Auron was leading a rather downtrodden Tidus at the rear but Harry just stayed where he was even as the other travellers ran to greet them. Harry stood slowly as Wakka and Lulu noticed him and came up to him.

"Thanks for clearing the route but you should have let more than just Tidus know what you were doing." Lulu told him. Harry almost laughed. Tidus had obviously known that he didn't want his 'break down' to be public knowledge so had come up with an excuse for his late night departure.

"I got the supplies sorted out for us but the Shoopuf is resting." Harry told them. "It'll be ready to go in half an hour. Did anything interesting happen along the way?"

"Well, not dangerous really. Yuna kept up with her summoning practice like you told her. I think she's seeing the benefits in it and she got challenged by another summoner for a summoner's duel." Lulu told him with a small smile.

"Did she win?" Harry asked. "What was the summoner's name?"

"She did win, she used Ifrit to take out her Ixion and actually did a very good job of it regardless of Ixion's far greater speed." Lulu told him. "It was a Summoner travelling on the road called Belgemine. We met her along Mi'ihen Highroad as well and Yuna just about beat here there with Valefor over Ifrit."

"Belgemine you say?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, have you met her?" Harry didn't have to think hard, she was one of the greatest Summoners that Harry had ever met around three hundred years ago. Harry had met her and her Guardian a long time ago and taken her to the hidden temples of Yojimbo and the Delta Sisters. She'd died when after attaining the Final Summoning she had lost the fight against Sin where Harry hadn't been able to help her.

"I don't think so." Harry lied to Lulu through necessity with a shrug. He hadn't thought she had lingered but then again most Summoners that died fighting Sin did since there was no Summoner around to send them on. If Yuna had beaten her twice then she was seriously pulling her punches.

"Harry!" Tidus bounced up to his side. Harry nodded to Lulu and Wakka who went to the small pile of supplies and began sharing it out between their packs ready for them to leave.

"Hi, Tidus." Harry smiled at him gently.

"I told the others that you scouted ahead." Tidus told him. Harry nodded to show he was grateful. "Um…I don't think any differently about you because of what you told me. I mean, I don't think your some sort of Zombie or anything."

Harry burst into laughter for a moment before controlling himself. "I'm sorry I reacted like that but I haven't told that to anybody in centuries and it was a tad painful to remember or tell somebody else."

"I'm glad you did but I'm still really confused." Tidus told him.

"You'll understand everything eventually, about where you come from and about me, but like I said, its not something to be pushed until the right time." Harry told him honestly not wanting to tell Tidus that he didn't really exist or that he came from a World that was created in the thoughts of a thousand sleeping summoners or that he was brimming with a power that Harry could sense but not understand and that drew Harry to Tidus like a moth to flame. "Go and extricate Yuna from her fans, the Shoopuf will be leaving soon."

Tidus nodded before heading off towards the crowd. He leant up to whisper to Kimahri who was at Yuna's shoulder to and the Ronso grunted before starting to pull Yuna from the masses even as she apologised for the need to leave so soon. Harry walked up to Auron and grinned in amusement.

"Looks like we may have some fun up ahead of us." Harry told the man. "There's been an attempted kidnapping and an actual kidnapping of a Summoner and their guardians along this section of the pilgrimage in the last few weeks." Auron grunted probably at Harry's idea that that was amusement. "Hey, at least it will keep everyone on their toes." Harry defended himself before turning to talk to the driver of the Shoopuf who with recent abductions was happy to make a run for just the Summoner and her six Guardians.

Harry got into the lift and Auron joined him with a newly arrive Wakka and Lulu who had the groups three packs that they passed between themselves so that some people didn't have to be weighed down in case of attack. They rode the lift up and then slipped into the small saddle based adornment that the Shoopuf wore that looked like a small room rather than a saddle. The lift went down again even as Harry found a seat at the front of the saddle while Wakka and Lulu took two of the three seats to his left. Auron took the end seat on the right and let Yuna and Kimahri take the end seat opposite Harry. Tidus filled in the seat just to Harry's right and with the seven of them in place Harry leaned back to let the driver know that they were ready.

Tidus stared around in joy for a time at the new experience but Harry and Auron weren't as easily impressed. Harry had taken the Shoopuf crossing many times as had Auron. Lulu had only taken it twice, once with her summoner and then once when Harry escorted her back to Besaid. Wakka had also been this way before on his way to Bevelle. Kimahri and Yuna had been this way as well but Yuna was showing more enjoyment at the experience than her Ronso guardian.

It was Wakka that broke the comfortable silence. "Hey, take a look." He told Tidus pointing down into the water. Tidus frowned but turned to kneel on the seat and looked down into the water. He twitched at the sight and dropped backwards.

"What?" He gasped in shock. Harry didn't have to look down there, he knew what it was. _Anarysis_, they had called it. The Jewel above the water. The world's largest port. The entire city had sat on ten huge bridges above the city with a complex of huge docks under it dealing with all of the transported good for the world. Most things you found for sale anywhere in the world had gone through this city at one point.

Even the war hadn't touched it much. Even though it had spent the war in the hands of Yevon the Zanarkadian's hadn't wanted to bomb such a monument to human kind and had left it alone even after it had started transporting Yevon's troops and weapons. Harry got a flash of the city as he sent wave after wave of magic through it ripping the supports out from under it and sending the city crashing into the water even as he hung above it with his gigantic wings of Myst.

Harry shook himself after only a second since Tidus had asked his question. He blinked the non existent tears from his eyes. "A sunken city!" Tidus guessed correctly.

"A machina city." Wakka lectured with a strange look on his face as if he was imparting great knowledge. "A thousand years old. They built the city on top of bridges across the river."

"But the weight of the city caused the bridges to collapse, and it all sank to the bottom." Lulu joined the explanation.

"Right." Wakka nodded wisely. "It's a good lesson."

"A lesson?" Tidus frowned.

"Yeah, why build a city over a river, ya?" Wakka asked him.

"Well…" Tidus frowned. "It would be convenient with all that water there."

"Nope, that's not why. They just wanted to prove that they could defy the laws of nature." Wakka countered.

"Hmm." Tidus grumbled before speaking louder. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Yevon has taught us: When humans have power, they seek to use it." Wakka quoted as if it was gospel. "If you don't stop them, they go too far, ya?"

"Yeah, but don't you use machina, too?" Tidus frowned and Harry caught Auron's eyes with a mischievous glint. "Like the stadium and stuff, right?"

"Yevon, it decides...which machina we may use, and which we may not." Lulu added in helpfully.

"So which type of Machina may we not use then?" Tidus asked rather sarcastically.

"Remember Operation Mi'ihen? That kind." Wakka told him bluntly.

"Or war will rage again." Lulu said sadly.

"War?" Tidus asked.

"More than one thousand year ago, Mankind waged war using Machina to kill." Yuna joined in.

"They kept building more and more powerful Machina." Wakka told him in what seemed to be a rehearsed lecture.

"They made weapons so powerful... It was thought they could destroy the entire world." Lulu spoke and Harry almost laughed. There hadn't been Machina capable of that since Earth fell.

"The people feared that the World would be destroyed." Yuna took her turn.

"But the war didn't stop." Wakka sighed.

"What happened then?" Tidus almost looked at Harry and Harry knew then that the seventeen year old truly believed him and knew that Harry had lived through what they were describing. Harry met his gaze without emotion and without making an attempt to continue.

"Sin came and it destroyed their cities and their Machina." Yuna sighed sadly.

"The war ended," Lulu sighed, "And our reward was Sin."

"So, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand, eh?" Wakka looked to Tidus to check he had taken in everything.

Harry chuckled before beginning to laugh outright. He'd heard that story so many times and it made him laugh every time. He look a moment to calm himself before looking up at the others who were all staring at him.

"What is so amusing about that?" Yuna almost growled.

Harry gave her an amused smile with the same mischievous glint in his eyes that he had given Auron. "You really believe all of that?"

"It's true. Sin is our punishment for using Machina!" Wakka argued.

"Yet he attacks towns like Kilika?" Harry asked logically. "Probably the least technological town in Spira. Sorry, Wakka, but you've been lied to."

"Wha…?" Wakka tried to argue but Harry lifted a hand.

"Sin didn't appear in Spira for thirty years after Zanarkand was destroyed along with the rest of the great cities." Harry told them. "Sin has nothing to do with Machina." Harry made a gesture to the city below them with a strange grin on his face. "I present to you the port city of Anarysis. 'The Jewel above the water.' It was Spira's largest trading port until it was attacked and destroyed _after_ the Great War that destroyed Zanarkand."

"It sunk to the bottom!" Lulu frowned.

Harry just smiled at her but he saw Tidus looking at him strangely. "How did it sink then?" Tidus asked.

"It was destroyed by an Aeon." Harry said simply. Tidus' eyes widened as everything clicked into place and he went pale.

"How do you know that?" Yuna frowned, she couldn't imagine any Aeon having that power, only the Final Summoning and that could only be cast in the presence of Sin which according to Harry hadn't been around until after the city had been destroyed.

"I just do." Harry stated bluntly.

Everybody fell into silence for a few minutes before Tidus regained his colour and made an attempt at small talk. "Why did you all decide to be Guardians?"

There was a collective sigh amongst the group except for Harry who just smirked at their relieved faces. They obviously hadn't liked Harry picking at their religion. They'd learn sooner or later. Maybe once they knew who he really was, if they ever did that was, then they'd believe him. "My best friend was a summoner and asked me to become her Guardian." Harry's face softened as she told them this. He'd already known who it was that she had lost but he couldn't smirk at her after that announcement. They were just going with the beliefs that they had always been brought up with after all.

"I wanted to travel." Wakka announced. "And make a difference after Chappu died."

Kimahri just grunted and Tidus turned on Auron. "Why did you go with Lord Braska?"

Auron gazed out into the distance with a small smile. Harry didn't want to let the man off so he spoke up. "He wanted to be as strong as the great Simon Kem." He announced with a smirk though the use of his only lovers name pained him.

"Who's Simon Kem?" Tidus asked with a frown.

"Simon Kem is a legend among Guardians, he is _the_ Guardian. He was born five hundred years ago and according to legend he lived to be three hundred before he vanished after taking no fewer than ten summoner through to the Final Summoning and dozens more most of the way." Wakka spoke reverently of the man.

"Three hundred years old?" Tidus frowned. "How is that possible?"

"That's partly why he is a legend, nobody knows if it's the truth or not but his fighting style was the same throughout the years so most believed that he was blessed by the Gods to aid us against Sin." Lulu told him.

"I'd say that was a curse actually." Harry grunted though he had a soft smile on his features. "I mean to have to live for so long."

Understanding suddenly dawned across Tidus' face as the group fell into silence. Auron was still gazing off into the distance while Wakka, Yuna and Lulu muttered between themselves about Lord only knew what. Tidus leaned into Harry. "Was that you?"

"For some of it." Harry admitted. "I copied another's name after he died but he really was a brilliant fighter. I still use some of his methods today."

"Why did you use his name?" Tidus frowned.

"So that he would always be remembered." Harry sighed. "So that I could always remember him after he died."

"He was your…?" Tidus trailed off uncertainly.

Harry took pity on him. "He was a brilliant man that I fell in love with against my better judgment. I stayed with him for almost eighty years before he died of old age and I took up his fight and helped Summoners for almost two hundred and fifty more years making sure that his name was never forgotten."

"Did it work?" Tidus asked.

"Every Guardian in the world wishes to be his match, to be as powerful as him." Harry smiled properly. "The perfect monument. I had hoped to see him in Guadosalam to remember his face but I don't believe that it will be possible now."

They were interrupted by a loud splash and a diver burst from the water behind the Shoopuf and up onto the carriage before grabbing Yuna around the chest and pulling her backwards into the water and down into the depths.

The others cried out in shock at the sudden appearance of an attack and it took Tidus and Wakka only a second before they dived into the water. "Are you going to go or not?" Lulu rounded on him as he slowly stood up.

Harry sighed explosively. "I supposed I had better go before they get themselves hurt." Harry shook his head and listened to Auron's quiet chuckle before he jumped onto the edge of the carriage and with a rather elegant dive he hit the water.

He caught up to Tidus and Wakka with powerful strokes just as they paused to consider their enemy. Harry knew what it was from long ago, an underwater version of a tractor designed to work on underwater structures like the reactors, research centres and even structural supports for buildings. There were always two crew, one inside with only a small view and the other inside a bubble on the top who had a better view. Yuna was currently in the bubble though she was unconscious.

The machine had obviously been modified in some way since Yuna, even conscious, didn't have any controls to tamper with and the machine didn't have its usual tools on the end of its mechanical arms but weapons like saw blades. Somebody had obviously made some after market modification. No matter really, Harry knew how to stop them.

He caught Wakka and Tidus' attention and signalled them to distract it while he killed it. They nodded in answer and the three of them began their attack. Wakka attacked with his Blitzball from a distance while Tidus darted in whenever it was focusing on Wakka or trying to find out where Harry had gone. Eventually Harry managed to swim around behind it and sneak up on it.

He found what he wanted without trouble, a series of hot bubbles spewed from a vent in the back. It's exhaust. He used a concentrated Fire attack to melt the metal ends of the exhaust and with a satisfied grin he watched as it collapsed into a single metal blob effectively blocking the only way for the machines engine to cool down. He then swam up the back of the machine to the crew bubble and short circuited the bubble release with a small lightning strike that singed him as well though it couldn't kill him like it could any others. The bubble popped off of the top and started to float towards the surface.

The machine continued to fight Wakka and Tidus without realising that anything was wrong and soon Harry joined in the fight to keep it distracted from its overheating engine. Harry saw it first. A simple out of control jerk of its arms that signalled that its power supply was being disrupted. Harry grinned and motioned for Wakka and Tidus' attention before making an explosive gesture between his hands. They got the idea and the three of them began swimming for the surface and away from the machine which had completely forgotten that they were there.

When Harry hit the surface he noted that the others had already managed to get the bubble to the Shoopuf and with the help of the Shoopuf's trunk had rescued Yuna who was now sleeping off the effects of a sleep spell that Harry countered as he got up into the carriage with the help of the Shoopuf's aid. Tidus and Wakka collapsed into their seats with exhausted expressions.

"Oh come on, that couldn't have tired you out?" Harry smirked at them playfully.

They both glared at him as Auron chuckled. "Some of us aren't superhuman." Tidus grumbled. The others took it for a joke as Tidus intended but Harry grinned at the seventeen year old.

"I'm not superhuman." Harry told him seriously. "I've just had a lot of practice. You'll get there eventually."

"I doubt that." Tidus grumbled just as Yuna woke up.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter - I couldn't work out where to end it so there you go.


	6. Seeing the Dead

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 6; Seeing the Dead

****

Moonflow; Northern Bank

As soon as they were all off of the Shoopuf Harry announced that since it was only noon they would cover at least two hours of travel before they stopped for lunch and then cover the rest of the distance to Guadosalam. He told them that he wanted them to stay in Guadosalam for the night before braving the Thunderplains but none of them brought him up on his use of the word 'you'.

Tidus ran on ahead so that he could sit by the bank and look at the Pyreflies for a while before the others caught up to him. Harry just walked slowly along on his own after the hyperactive boy while the others were held behind content to let Yuna be fawned over by appreciative onlookers as they slowly freed themselves from the small encampment around the bank of the river estuary.

He came around the last corner to find Tidus talking animatedly with a girl about the same age as himself. As Tidus noticed him he waved energetically at him and Harry sighed slightly.

"Harry!" Tidus exclaimed, "I want you to meet Rikku."

"It's nice to meet you Rikku." Harry greeted her with a small nod but a suspicious one all the same.

"Rikku helped rescue me from an old temple before I washed up on Besaid." Tidus announced cheerfully.

"Really?" Harry asked hiding his concern. He snapped out his hand and grabbed her chin, lifting her head. "Open your eyes, Rikku." He ordered. Tidus flapped slightly at his side in protest to the rough treatment but stopped when he noticed that she had had her eyes clamped shut as soon as Harry grabbed her chin.

She slowly slid open one eye but Harry just growled, really growled, and she forced open the other one. Harry snorted lightly before letting her go. "An Al-bhed out here?" Harry chuckled. "You wouldn't happen to know how to run an Underwater Construction Buoy would you?"

She glanced at Tidus as she went pale muttering for help. "Thought as much." Harry shrugged. "Now, tell me Rikku, what were the Al-bhed doing out by the old temples? There is nothing there but ruins."

She stumbled a few times before muttering something that Harry didn't even try to hear. He tapped his arm impatiently and she spoke slower and louder. "Looking for a couple of things under the water."

"Which were?" Harry pressed.

"An Airship dock and some weapon that was supposed to be able to defeat Sin." She muttered.

"And I take it by Sin's continued presence that you failed?" Harry pressed on relentlessly.

"We found the Airship dock didn't we?" Tidus suddenly realised. Harry tensed knowing exactly where the airship dock that they must be talking about had been.

Rikku nodded. "We didn't find the other thing." Harry almost sighed with relief.

"Hey, what's an Airship dock doing underwater?" Tidus suddenly asked. "Wouldn't you put it up in a mountain or something?"

"We don't know, we think it wasn't underwater to start with." Rikku told him momentarily forgetting that Harry was still watching her carefully. Tidus cast a quick glance at him but he shrugged feigning ignorance since he couldn't exactly say anything with Rikku around and wouldn't have anyway.

"Yo!" Wakka's voice sounded and Harry, Tidus and Rikku looked around at the approaching group. "Friend of yours?"

"Uh, you could say that." Tidus hedged not wanting to say that it had been Rikku that attacked them.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Rikku." She introduced herself.

"Yuna, Lulu, I told you about her remember?" Tidus butted in and Harry walked slowly away passed Auron with the slightest nod of his head to show that he didn't mind the girl tagging along. "She was the one that helped me before I washed up on Besaid. She's an Al…"

He trailed off desperately as he remembered Lulu's warning that Wakka didn't trust the Al-Bhed. "Wow, so you like owe her your life!" Wakka spoke oblivious to the unspoken though he was the only one. "What luck meeting here! Praise be to Yevon." Harry snorted quietly in amusement. "So…uh, Rikku, you look a little beat up. You okay?"

This time Harry did laugh and got harsh glares from Yuna, Lulu and Wakka. "Uh, Wakka?" Lulu spoke quietly.

"What?" Wakka asked.

"There's something we need to discuss." Lulu declared.

"Oh, go ahead." Wakka stated obliviously. Harry shook his head in amusement as Rikku declared it 'girls only' and strolled off with Yuna and Lulu. "What is that about?" Wakka asked looking to Tidus for help who simply nodded. He glanced at Auron and then at Harry though he thought better of asking Harry.

He thought he had recognised Rikku, he'd never met her before but he knew the family resemblance from his meetings with Cid, the leader of the Al-Bhed a long time ago when Cid had been younger. Cid's sister had married Braska and had Yuna. Rikku greatly resembled Cid and this impromptu meeting and their gesturing proved his thoughts. Rikku was Yuna's cousin. Probably best not to mention that to anybody else just yet though.

He could imagine Yuna asking Rikku if she knew somebody called Cid, who her mother had always advised her to seek out if in need and Rikku's stunned announcement that Cid was her father. He was grateful when they evidently decided to discuss the details later and Yuna approached Harry and Auron slowly with Rikku at her side.

"Sir Auron, Harry. I'd like Rikku to be my Guardian." Yuna requested. Auron stepped forward to study Rikku and Harry smirked at Tidus in amusement as Auron gave her the same treatment about her eyes as he had.

"Are you certain?" Auron asked her after a moments grumbling under his breath.

"One hundred percent." Rikku announced glancing warily at Harry. "So can I?"

Auron glanced at Harry who shrugged. "If Yuna wishes it." Auron said eventually.

"I do." Yuna stated formally.

"Rikku's a good girl, she helped me out a bunch." Tidus announced as Harry turned away and walked passed him along the path a ways.

"And then attacked you." Harry muttered in the boy's ear in amusement.

"Well, I'm all for it. The more the merrier!" Wakka put in cheerfully.

"Then I'll just have to be the merriest!" Rikku announced. Harry groaned just loud enough for them all to hear.

"Great, two hyperactive kids to baby sit." He muttered half heartedly. "Could we please start moving in the general direction of Guadosalam before the world decides to change it's shape once again?"

Tidus eyed his sarcastic tone for a second before grabbing Rikku's wrist and scrambling up the path into the dark woods. Harry watched them run passed him in amusement before raising his eyebrow at the others to start them moving. He'd never have thought that one boy could pierce his self-implemented emotional armour in such a short time. The last person that had done that was Simon Kem but he'd taken the key to his armour with him to the grave and even put up another lock. Harry grinned slightly at the mental thought. Maybe he would risk a visit to Guadosalam, it was well worth it with the different effect that the Pyreflies took in his presence.

They travelled through the rest of the afternoon as one large group. Auron and Harry trailed about fifty metres behind them letting the rest deal with the fiends that appeared. Neither of them needed any training so only dealt with the fiends that attacked them head on. Even the larger fiends were left to the others and their newfound teamwork. It was only just starting to get dark when they arrived in Guadosalam and Harry stopped them all just outside.

"I shall meet you all at the entrance to the Thunderplains tomorrow at sunrise." Harry said.

"Why? Aren't you coming with us?" Yuna asked.

"No, Seymour Guado is the leader of the Guado and you saw his reaction to me in Luca. It would also be for the best if you did not offer the knowledge that you have been travelling with me." Harry told them all sternly. "As I said, I will meet you on the other side. Get some rest."

Harry wandered back into the forest planning on practicing some of his more powerful magic without people to spy on him so that if he got into another big fight he wouldn't tire from over exertion so easily. By the time night fell he could easily cast the most powerful of magicks again with barely a thought. The one spell that had barely changed over the years, Ultima, or the Killing Curse, except that now when used it harmed all of your enemies and if not controlled enough it could take your allies lives from them as well and even damage the caster. It also didn't always kill the target depending on the targets ability to cast the spell. It was complicated but that sort of comparison didn't trouble Harry since he had never met a soul who could cast the spell better then he could.

When night fell Harry slipped back to the forest path and up into Guadosalam. Two well placed low-power confuse spells, the modern equivalent of confundas spells were all that was needed to get passed the two guards and into the quiet city and he easily snuck through the underground city to the travel lodge. He snuck inside and silently made his way through the building looking into each of the rooms for his target. Tidus, Wakka, Auron and Kimahri were in the last of the rooms and Harry was grateful that they hadn't set a watch for the night wanting to all get a good nights sleep.

He silently crossed the rooms and placed his hand over Tidus' mouth to silence him. Tidus instantly woke and tried to cry out into the dark room but Harry simply held him down before leaning in. "Shh! It's just me." He whispered quietly and Tidus stilled but glared up at Harry in the darkness. An amused grin spread across Harry's face. "Come with me quietly. Don't wake the others."

Harry led the way out of the building and through the empty city keeping quiet and making sure neither of them were seen. He set a sleeping spell on the guard to the Farplain and he slumped bonelessly to the ground. Tidus stepped over him gingerly but followed like a lamb anyway. Harry sighed and stretched slightly with a small groan. "We can speak now, no Guado comes in here at night, they think it is sacred."

"Is it?" Tidus asked.

"It wasn't before the Guado found it." Harry snorted. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"You don't mean the Farplain do you? Because we came here with the others earlier."

Harry smiled at him and winked. "It's not the place I want to show you but what it can do."

"You mean show images of people you remember?" Tidus asked. Harry smiled sadly at him.

"The Farplain is more complex than that if you know what to do. It's not a secret I normally spread around since it could be rather dangerous in the wrong hands." Harry sighed. "Why don't you tell me what's happened since I left you to explore on your own?"

"Oh! We were taken to meet Seymour in the mansion and he told us all this stuff about who Yunalesca was and he showed us an image of Zanarkand!" Tidus seemed cheered mainly by this fact over any other.

"A recreation of the memories in the Farplain. Rather interesting since that is rather high-tech Machina." Harry shrugged. "Anything else?"

"He asked Yuna to marry him." Tidus frowned and Harry did something very uncharacteristic for him, he nearly tripped over his own feet. Tidus snorted in amusement. Harry reached over and ruffled his hair with affection.

"Whelp." He muttered.

"A what?" Tidus frowned.

"Sorry, I don't think that terms been used in a few thousand years." Harry frowned in thought trying to think of a modern one still in use. "Brat? Yes that's a modern one!"

"Hey, you can't call me a brat!"

Harry shrugged. "Did Seymour say anything interesting?"

"He said something strange about Auron still being here and that he smelled funny." Harry had to do a double take but it made sense after a moment. Seymour, as a Guado, would have been able to sense that Auron had been killed and was lingering. "He said he wanted to marry Yuna to break through the lines of race and bring Spira something to cheer about."

"That's strange." Harry frowned. He wondered whether Seymour's interest in Yuna had anything to do with his knowing about Harry as the destroyer. The worst scenario that he could think up at that moment is that he hoped that together they would be strong enough to control Harry's Aeon form. Assuming Seymour knew about it.

"Some guy called Jyscal tried to escape but Yuna Sent him again." Harry eyes rose again. Why did so much happen to this group when he wasn't around to look after them. They were like children getting in trouble in a sweet shop when their parent turned their backs on them.

Harry paused in front of the door to the Farplain and turned to Tidus. "What did you see in here earlier?"

"I saw my mother, but…" He paused and Harry placed a hand on his shoulder to get him to continue. "Yuna said that she'd only be there if she accepted death before she died."

Harry saw the pain in his eyes and felt an overwhelming desire to sooth it. "That doesn't necessarily mean she wanted to die just that she was ready for it. Simon never needed Sending since he died of old age and accepted it."

"But you can't die so you'll never be able to see him again." Tidus frowned.

Harry smiled again. "I'll show you." Harry gripped Tidus' hand in his own and walked through the doorway and into the Farplain. Instantly a soft melody echoed through the air that Harry recognised as Phoenix Song, long extinct but for the Dead's memories.

Harry led a confused Tidus to the edge of the platform before concentrating on his strongest happy, love filled, memory of Simon. His figure emerged from the Pryeflies but he didn't speak though his eyes caught Harry's and a happy look flashed over them. The man's confusion over the presence of another kept him still and silent though.

"Who's that?" Tidus asked.

"That is Simon Kem." Harry introduced before turned to face his old love. "Simon, this is Tidus."

"Why are you introducing us?" Tidus frowned, "Rikku said that the Pyreflies just produced images."

"Normally they do but Harry is a bit of an odd one." Simon spoke up and Tidus would have tripped over backwards if Harry hadn't caught him.

"You're speaking?" Tidus almost shuddered in fear.

"He isn't a ghost, he's a soul." Harry lectured. "When a body dies the Pyreflies are their magic escaping into the air which can become magical fiends if not Sent. Their souls move on but because I myself am trapped in a way between life and death and because this place is the same I can talk to anybody I want. The Pyreflies give them the power to cross over."

"Anybody?" Tidus asked.

"Anybody that is dead." Harry told him before smiling up at Simon.

"How is life treating you?" Simon asked as he drifted slightly closer.

"It's being as confusing as ever." Harry admitted. "Interesting for a change but confusing. Everyone seems to be after _me."_ He emphasised the last word so that Simon knew that he was referring to his Aeon.

"Yes, I had seen as much." Simon smirked. "I'm surprised you brought him here though, I didn't think you'd ever move on."

"Move on?" Harry frowned before being shocked. "I haven't move on! It's not like that! I'm just looking out for him!"

Harry glanced sideways at Tidus who had gone bright red at the accusation. "It's good to see the almighty Harry, the Destroyer of Armies, spluttering like a school boy."

"Oh, you rotten git, Si!" Harry swore with a few more ancient Earth words so that Tidus didn't know quite how rude he was being. Simon's laugh filled the air and Harry felt warmth bubble up inside of him.

"You know it wouldn't be such a bad thing for you to move on you know." Simon told him. "Besides Tidus is as good a guy as ever."

"Tidus is seventeen, Si." Harry frowned.

"Hey, I'm right here you know." Tidus grouched but was simply ignored.

"What's that matter?" Simon smirked. "I was twenty-five when we met and you were still at least sixty times my age."

"Oh, why do I even bother." Harry shook his head.

"Do I get a choice?" Tidus blurted out rather loudly. Harry glared at Simon before turning to a still rather red Tidus.

"Sorry, please ignore Simon. He's a git." Harry reiterated before spinning on Tidus. "Think carefully about this, is there anybody that you might want to speak to."

"You mean I could speak to someone?" Tidus frowned.

"Anyone that is dead that you felt close to." Harry explained.

"Like my mum?" Tidus asked cautiously.

Harry paused, it was more complicated than that since Tidus' mother had never really existed like Simon had. Normally those from the Sleeper's world didn't actually have souls and wouldn't appear but Tidus had already told him that the Pyreflies had reacted to his thoughts about his mother and therefore she must have had a soul. It confused Harry but he was willing to give Tidus the chance to try. He nodded slowly. "Just focus on the best memory, the happiest memory, of her that you can think of and she'll come if she can."

Tidus closed his eyes obviously trying to relive the memory he had picked. Harry glanced up at Simon who smiled back at him before taking a step to the side. A figure walked out of the Myst that surrounded them, a very beautiful woman formed out of the Myst. She looked rather delicate but she held herself with confidence born from being in the Afterlife. "Tidus?" Harry looked at the boy next to him as he spoke, he still had his eyes closed. "Open your eyes."

Tidus slowly opened them and gasped in shock as he saw his mother there. It was a similar reaction to when he had seen her earlier but instead of a mindless image she wore an expression. Part realisation and part wonder. Harry turned slightly and took a step away from the woman's image, he squeezed Tidus' shoulder on the way passed before heading over to the other side of the Myst surrounded platform to give Tidus some peace.

He glanced back a couple of times so see Tidus looking down at the ground and rocking about on the balls of his feat. It would be good for the boy to talk to his mother, since he'd been too young to understand at the time how somebody could die like she had after loosing a loved one.

"You know, Harry. I don't mind." Harry jolted around to face Simon standing next to him. He looked almost real enough to touch but Harry resisted knowing that his hand would simply pass through him and his heart would suffer for the evidence that he was dead.

"Huh?" Harry said without elegance.

Simon rolled his eyes. "Every time you come here I tell you it's time for you to move on and love somebody else but you never do and now you have the perfect opportunity to try again." Simon told him. "What could possible happen that could pain you more then the pain you already force upon yourself?"

"Maybe if he died!" Harry snapped not feeling up to arguing over the basis of this conversation, his feelings of attachment to Tidus.

"That never stopped you from loving me." Simon pointed out.

"It's odd, I don't fear him accidentally dying." Harry sighed. "I fear that he'll grow old like you did and I'll have to watch him die of old age while I have to live on."

Simon gave him a truly sad look knowing exactly what Harry meant. Harry knew too much about the peace in the afterlife to ever fear people dying since he knew they'd be happy there. It was having to come to terms with having to live while the other died that he feared. "But it's worth the pain at the end to feel love again, Harry."

"How would you know?" Harry would have snapped if it wasn't Simon he was talking about. "You don't have to live forever."

"But I do have to stay here with the knowledge that I'll never be able to hold you again because you can't come here." Simon made a strange flinch like gesture as if he was about to reach out but thought better of it. "Make me a promise, Harry?"

Harry sent him a desperate look knowing that he couldn't not make a promise to Simon and would then have to keep it. "What?" He struggled to articulate.

"What's that phrase in that dead language you taught me? Carpe Diem?" Harry nodded slowly. "Seize the day. Promise me you'll just go with the flow of things with Tidus, maybe it will all work out for the best. Promise me you'll try to forget him growing old and leaving you behind. Promise me you'll try to love him."

"How do you even know he is attracted to me?" Harry frowned looking back over the room to where Tidus stood only a foot away from his mother talking animatedly. "He's shown no signs of liking me that way."

"That's because you have taught yourself to ignore the signs." Simon smiled. "I can see it and by the looks of that conversation, Tidus' mother can see it too. He's attracted to you definitely. Now promise me you'll forget about the future and just try to be happy for the present."

"Fine, I promise." Harry looked up at Simon with tears in his eyes, the first tears he had shed since the last time he had come here forty-eight years ago. He'd begun to think he wasn't capable of them anymore. Simon lifted his hand in their familiar farewell gesture, holding his palm vertical in the air as if placing it against a sheet of glass. Harry raised his own hand to mirror the gesture but stopped with his hand just millimetres from Simon's palm. He shut his eyes for the briefest of moments and could almost feel the current of Myst flitting over his palm. When he opened his eyes again he got one last sappy smile from Simon before he vanished into the Myst.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

****

The next morning

Tidus was a walking zombie when he followed the others out of the tunnel that joined Guadosalam to the Thunderplains. Harry had taken him back to the hostel in silence before warning him that what had happened had to stay between them. It wasn't a good idea for everybody to know how to contact the dead even if it wasn't possible for any normal mortal.

Harry had then slipped out into the early morning light even though it was even now still hidden behind large and very permanent storm clouds. He spent the rest of the night remembering how this place had been created, a research centre had been built maybe a mile below the surface of the then abundant forests that had stretched for miles in every direction. During the war with Zanarkand the Yevonites had attempted to create a weapon there safe from the reach of the Zanarkand bombers but something had gone wrong with the weapon and it had released all of its massive power into this one large storm. Now, fuelled by Geothermal energy, it continued to rage and would probably continue to do so until the planet froze to the core which wasn't likely to happen any time soon.

If Harry had ever known where the facility had actually been hidden he might have tried to do something to stop it but there was no trace of any surface buildings and the facility itself had probably collapsed. The storm had destroyed the forest turning it into vast plains of melted rock. Most people avoided it but it was the only way to pass from Guadosalam to Macalania Forest without a ship which Yuna and her guardians definitely didn't have.

Tidus yawned dramatically as the group came to a stop and Harry greeted them all and enquired as to their sleep. They all eyed Tidus in amusement. "It's not my fault that Wakka snores!" Tidus complained coming up with an excuse in an instant. Everybody laughed and even Harry met Tidus' eyes with an amused glint to his own eyes.

"Anything happen that I should be aware of?" Harry asked in general but focused on Yuna when she glanced down at the ground.

"Nothing really." Yuna muttered.

"Maester Seymour asked Yuna to marry him." Lulu put in. Harry wasn't surprised and didn't bother to act it. The only person that had been watching for a reaction had been Auron and he probably guessed that Harry already knew this.

"And you said what?" Harry asked.

"I was going to say no but he has left for Macalania temple." She told him which of course Harry already knew since he'd watched the man and his six Guado escort leave two hours earlier.

"Is that all?" Harry asked looking at Yuna again seeing that she was hiding something.

"Yes." Yuna looked up at him fiercely.

"You're a very bad liar." Harry snorted before shaking his head up at the sky. He bet he knew what she was lying about too, the apparition of Jyscal. He wouldn't have forced his way into being just when Yuna was there out of coincidence nor would he had done it for no reason other than to shock them all. He'd passed a message onto Yuna of some kind. Harry turned half to Tidus since he was the least knowledgeable about this plain. "The Thunderplains are extremely dangerous. Either myself or Yuna will cast anti-lightning spells but I think Yuna should keep Ixion summoned as long as we are in the open."

"Her attacks wont do much damage against the Fiends. Lightning heals lightning elementals after all." Wakka lectured.

"I'm well aware of that, Wakka," Harry said without bite since Wakka had glanced at Tidus as he said it. "But she can take some of the attacks away from us and heal herself. The ideal shield."

Yuna's eyes lit up at the challenge. It was a test really, hundreds of people passed over the plains without Ixion's help and didn't die. Harry wanted to see how long she could keep her newest Aeon in this realm. She'd used Ifrit and Valefor a lot in the forests South and North of the Moonflow but hadn't really Summoned Ixion as of yet. "Shiva is very powerful and I want to be ready for her when we get there." Yuna declared before slipping away to the side to Summon Ixion.

"So how do we cross this?" Tidus asked looking down over the valley just as a triple strike of lightning hit the plain. Twice on the ground and once on the top of a tower in the distance. Rikku screamed quietly and took a step towards the entrance to Guadosalam. Harry eyed her warily and let Lulu take on the explanations.

"See the lightning rod towers?" She asked and Tidus nodded. "The lightning is drawn to them…hopefully."

"We head north, staying close to but not too near the towers." Wakka elaborated.

"Meaning we avoid wide open areas." Lulu pointed out to Tidus to drill it in.

"I think I forgot something in Guadosalam." Rikku muttered and turned on her heel.

"Bye."

"Nice knowing you." Harry and Auron said at once and Rikku spun back to them.

"Okay, Okay, I'll go." She sighed defeated.

"And just in case." Harry stated drawing all of their attention, including Yuna and Ixion who watched Harry calmly. Harry fisted his right hand in front of him before snapping his fingers. Each of them glowed golden for an instant before a small golden sphere flittered around each of them. Harry turned then to Ixion and made a similar motion and she glowed blue for an instant. "Anti-lightning spells but they'll only work once or twice. If they wear off tell myself or Yuna and we'll reapply them. I placed an anti-water spell on Ixion too. It might not be a bad idea to teach her it anyway, Yuna. Some of the Fiends out here use water magic to prey on the lightning elementals."

"Time to go." Auron announced. "Tidus and Harry, take point."

Harry mock bowed to the man before starting to walk across the plain. Tidus caught up to him after a few seconds and Harry knew that the others were following in a group about ten metres behind them. It was the best layout really since it prevented large attacks hitting them all at once and Harry honestly didn't mind spending some time alone with Tidus even if they were being watched.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

It took them near to three hours to make if a third of the way across the plains. The monsters here were powerful, much more so than the other side of Guadosalam and it was for one main reason, nobody was stupid enough to try to cull the Fiends here and risk their lives against the lightning. People crossed over as fast as they could avoiding the monsters if possible and because of that the Fiends here had thrived and the lightning resistant or absorbing ones were the most dominant.

Harry took a more hands on role in their fighting but made sure that none of them slacked off any. He used his sword for the most part unless faced with entirely elemental Fiends where he switched to his magic. Yuna was able to keep Ixion summoned for almost the entire time though she began to weaken after two hours and was forced to release her and regain her own strength as they walked. The weather though wasn't working in their favour. A natural storm was merging with the artificial one and Harry could see the clouds darkening and becoming far more aggressive.

They paused for a breather at the one-third mark under a tower just before a small rise that divided the smaller southern plains from the larger, and more dangerous northern plain. They paused for a breather and Harry looked up at the sky and the roiling clouds anxiously.

Wakka laughed in excitement and awe as a large lightning bolt struck the top of the tower they were standing under. The air hummed with energy as the ground shook with thunder. "Whoa! That was a close one!" Wakka was grinning like a maniac.

"Stop kidding around!" Lulu snapped at him wiping the grin from his face in an instant.

"Yes ma'am." Wakka muttered meekly.

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh." Harry turned to gaze at a shivering Rikku with a stare that was a cross between pity and amusement. She was utterly terrified of lightning it seemed.

"What's wrong?" Wakka asked.

She just continued to shake making the same strange sound. Harry rose his eyebrows up before looking around at the other astonished faces especially Tidus' freaked out look. "Heh heh heh heh." Tidus imitated with a shudder. "You're giving me the creeps!"

"She's Astraphobic." Harry muttered to Tidus but Rikku was already speaking over him in a harried way.

"I wanna go home!" She complained. "I hate lightning! I hate thunder! Let's go rest over there! Please?"

Harry glanced to where she was pointing but he already knew where she was pointing. A low building was set around the bottom of one of the towers at the top of the ridge. "This storm never stops." Auron pointed out.

"But it does get worse." Harry put in and everyone looked up at the sky. The clouds to the East were easily the worst and the majority of the flashes were in those clouds. "We must get off of the plain before nightfall or we'll all be killed out in the open."

"Then we should stay for the night here." Rikku said thinking she had won.

"If we stop now for one night we will be stuck here for six weeks. That is how long the storms last." Harry pointed out.

"But the storm is permanent!" Wakka countered.

"This one is, yes, if you could call it a proper storm, but the one approaching from the East will make it worse and it will last a long time." Harry stated. "We can't afford to put this pilgrimage on hold for six weeks."

"But just for a little while!" Rikku pleaded.

Harry simply turned around and headed for the ridge. He noticed that Rikku was a bit more confident for every step closer to the Travel Agency that they took. But when they passed the door to the Agency she stopped all together.

"Pretty please!" She begged rather shamelessly. "Just for a few minutes! I'm scared of lightning."

Harry simply watched her as the others began to continue on their trek and he shook his head with amusement as her pleading took to a new level. "I'm too young to die!" He actually laughed outright at that. "You're mean…Cruel." She accused him.

"You're just one girl." Harry quipped back easily as they others turned and in that motion permitted to Rikku's pleas.

"Fine, we rest." Auron announced. "She's worse than the storm."

"For two hours maximum." Harry put in glancing again at the storm. He really didn't feel like being cooked through but still alive.

"But…" Rikku protested as the others walked passed her and into the Agency. Harry paused next to her.

"No." Harry said sternly. "We leave before the storm, don't attempt to waylay this Pilgrimage with attempts to trap us here. I won't stand for it."

"What…?" Rikku stuttered not liking being caught so easily.

"The Al-bhed are attempting to capture Summoners to stop their pilgrimages." Harry pointed out before breezing passed her and into the warm Agency.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	7. Macalania

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 7; Macalania

**Thunder Plains; Travel Agency**

Harry waited out the several hours rest time within the door of the agency watching the storm as it slowly grew. They would have to walk through the rest of the afternoon and evening to reach the other side in time. Eight hours at the very least but he knew of a small campsite within Macalania forest that they could rest in for the night before braving the highly dangerous forest.

Rikku hadn't attempted to waylay them and had simply gotten food to eat from the agency along with Lulu and Wakka. Tidus was busy searching through the weapons inside the shop looking for a replacement for his own rather basic one under Auron's careful eye. Kimahri stood waiting near the entrance to the private rooms since Yuna had sequested herself within them for a brief nap.

Auron appeared at his shoulder with a sigh. "Did you and Tidus find a weapon?"

Auron grunted. "Nothing here is good enough for anything other than tourists."

"You sound surprised." Harry chuckled. "His current weapon will suffice until Macalania temple and I know of a weapon he can use once there."

"What weapon is that?" Auron frowned at him.

"The Shifting Glacier." Harry told him bluntly.

"Shiva's weapon!" Auron spun on him. "How is that possible?"

"I didn't know you knew of the Fayth's true natures, Auron." Harry grinned at him ignoring Auron's own question.

"You didn't follow us to the Gagazet Mountains." Auron told him. "I learnt a lot there."

"I am glad you learnt something before it was too late." Harry cast him a knowing glance once again reminding Auron that he knew of his death. "Shiva's sword is hidden within the Trials of Macalania Temple."

"And you know where it is?" Auron asked.

Harry chuckled. He couldn't say it was him that had hidden it there sixteen hundred years ago, nor found and placed the creature that guarded it. "I happen to know."

"Why do you not then use the weapon?"

"It is a good weapon." Harry agreed, "But this one is multi-elemental. The Shifting Glacier will be useful when we reach Gagazet. We will have to train Tidus to fight on his own."

"It is guarded then?" Auron asked.

"Yes." Harry told him bluntly unsure as to whether he should have brought the Ancient weapon up in the first place. He would be putting Tidus' life at risk.

"It is time to leave." Auron muttered before turning to go back inside. Harry could hear everybody moving around inside as they gathered their belongings and put away the supplies they had bought from the Agency.

It was another ten minutes before the group filed out of the Agency and stood around waiting for somebody to head off for the storm stricken plains. Harry snapped up his hands and just as he did before created lightning immunities around the party. Rikku seemed to brace herself up after this and Harry made a mental note to take pity on her and make sure she always had a strong immunity around her. Yuna took the hint and summoned Ixion who nudged at Harry until he cast a strong anti-water spell on him. He knew that Ixion was capable of casting her own spell but until Yuna was powerful enough she was restricted.

"We will only stop if we have to. Rain is heading in and this place turns into a river when it gets wet." Harry told them before starting forwards. Tidus caught up to him quickly and they took the same positions they had in the first place. Harry waited for a few minutes before asking Tidus about his weapons search.

"Nothing there caught my eye." Tidus admitted.

"I'm not surprised. I have one in mind for you at the next temple." Harry told him quietly so that Kimahri, with his better than human hearing, couldn't hear him.

"One of yours?" Tidus muttered with a curious glance sideways at Harry.

"Not really, I used it for a while but it was too light for me." Harry admitted. "You excel with lightweight weaponry. You're faster than most and more agile."

"Even you?" Tidus asked. Harry chuckled, Tidus had become good with a sword but nothing could compete with two thousand years with one.

"I'm no faster than you. My grace comes from training and practice and if I do need to be faster and stronger I use my magic to enhance normal human attributes." Harry told him. "The sword belonged to Shiva when she was still a human."

"Shiva? As in the Aeon?"

"Close enough. Shiva was a warrior originally, she was a powerful Mage and strong fighter and when her husband and three young children were murdered she lost control and channelled her magic out around her. She froze a city in her pain and killed the ten thousand inhabitants there." Harry sighed. "Her punishment was to evermore serve the summoners."

"Did you see it?" Tidus asked. "The city freezing I mean."

"No." Harry sighed. "I had met her a few times but this was back when everyone knew what I was. By the time I got there the place was an ice lake with only her Fayth in the centre. I spoke to her and took her sword. I used it until I decided to hide it within the newly erected temple around her Fayth."

Tidus shuddered at the thought of meeting such a person who could freeze a city and kill so many. Harry noticed it. "Her deed was no worse than my own, Tidus. Nor worse than some of the others."

"What did you do?" Tidus frowned. "I don't think your capable of mass genocide."

"In time, Tidus, in time." Harry sighed. "For the meantime you must train yourself to recover the sword. It isn't just hidden under ice, it is protected."

Tidus and Harry walked in silence for a moment and Harry glanced over his shoulder to check over the rest of the party following at a distance. A stab of lightning struck the nearest tower making Harry jerk around just in time to see a Melusine Wolf jump down off of a nearby ledge at Tidus. Harry drew his sword and leapt forwards meeting the wolf in the air above Tidus who rolled to his right as soon as he realised what was happening.

The wolf scratched out at Harry dodging his slash in the process. They landed heavily and the wolf rolled around and came at Harry with open jaws. Harry swiped at it to warn it off as he rolled to his feet. This one was fast, twice as fast as any of the Wolves they had previously come across. It leapt at him and Harry ducked it's claws and teeth, rolling forwards under it. He swung his sword up in an arc cutting into its underbelly and flooding the sword with ice magic sending freezing magic into the wolf and using it's weakness against it.

Normally an ice spell would kill one of these wolves but this one just landing clumsily and growled as it limped to face him. Ixion's clattering hooves could be heard but the Aeon stayed to guard the main party. Tidus circled the beast waiting for an opening with his sword held loosely to his side.

Harry feinted but the wolf was recovering from the ice magic and dodged again. Another lightning strike slammed to the ground nearby and Harry knew they were tempting fate out here away from the towers but a beast like this was hard to kill quickly without some major magic. Harry knew his adrenaline was borderline to allowing him to trigger an overdrive so he channelled all of that adrenaline into his magic and flooded his own system. In an instant he attacked. The wolf started to twist to dodge but instead of being where he should be, Harry attacked from the wolf's right slashing deep into it's side. The wolf dodged to block a second blow but only impaled itself onto Harry's sword since he was now on it's left. The sword sunk deep into it's chest killing it quickly and even as it hit the ground it started leaking pyreflies as it's own magic escaped into the air leaving the husk to decay normally.

Harry straightened and looked around at the shocked group. Even Auron was surprised having only seen his Soul Overdrive. He chuckled and cleaned his sword on the dead wolf's fur before slipping it into it's sheath over his back.

"What kinda overdrive was that!?" Wakka gasped looking eager.

"A magical one." Auron grunted guessing correctly. "A useful trick."

"It has gotten me out of several tight spots." Harry admitted. "Lulu and Wakka, you two are on point. Watch out for Iron Giants."

Lulu nodded briskly and dragged a still staring Wakka off down the path. Ixion followed with a dazed Yuna beside her followed by Kimahri. Auron smirked at Harry before starting to walk off too. Harry followed with Tidus about ten metres behind them to spread the group out in case an Iron Giant appeared, he didn't want it to get them all on the defensive at once.

"What's an overdrive?" Tidus asked him after a few minutes of walking.

"Do you remember what I did in Luca Stadium?" Harry asked. Tidus nodded. "That was an overdrive."

"So people have several?" He asked.

"People can have four. The only exception is people who decide to be Summoners or Mages like Yuna and Lulu." Harry told him. "They only have one Magical Overdrive."

"What about you though?" Tidus asked. "Aren't you a Mage?"

"I might be a powerful magic user but I'm not a mage." Harry told him.

"But you're stronger than Lulu." Tidus complained getting confused.

"Only through time and because of what I was before this life." Harry told him quietly. "I'm just like you, a warrior with the ability to cast magic like a Mage. I fight with a sword not a focus."

"I get it." Tidus said. "But what was that you just did."

"Ok." Harry chuckled momentarily before beginning his lecture, a lecture he'd given to Guardians throughout time. Though he had never cared that the Guardian took it in as much as he did now. "For people who haven't picked Summoning or Magic as a sole pursuit, there are four kinds of Overdrive though some, like Wakka, might only claim three since the last is less known. There is the first, the most basic, one called an Initiate. This uses your adrenaline to directly fuel your movements, speeding up your reactions and letting you manipulate the area around you to deliver a single powerful attack with your chosen weapon."

"Ok. Initiate. Check." Tidus gave him a cheeky smile and Harry slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"The second is a Magical Overdrive, or Divergent. This is where you divert your adrenaline to fuel an outburst of magic that can cause many different results. You just saw mine, my Divergent Overdrive allows me to teleport rapidly around a target to deliver attacks that it can't protect itself against." Tidus nodded slowly. "The third is often called the Soul Overdrive and only the best can cast it. To do it you have to absorb the souls and magic of those you kill until you lose control of them. It always looks impressive but it is hard to control. Many people have died after losing control of that particular one."

"You could have killed everyone in the Stadium with that right?" Tidus asked.

"Yes." Harry didn't see any point in deluding him. "You have to be an expert in controlling your own magic in order to direct the attack like I did against Anima but if any of you had attacked one of the spectres they would have attacked."

"Auron warned us to stay still." Tidus agreed.

"He's seen that particular one before when we were attacked en mass in Macalania Forest." Harry told him. "It's different for everyone though. It's power depends on how many souls you can withhold before they escape and that's dependant on training and how old you are."

"Oh." Was Tidus' response as he realised what that meant.

"You can push it to release earlier as I did in Luca Stadium but that also takes practice." Harry told him. "The last form of Overdrive hasn't been seen in a long time. Simon Kem was one of the most famous users of it."

"You mean…?" Tidus paused eyeing Auron in front of them.

"No. Not me." Harry smiled. "I taught Simon how to do it after I had known him for a while and he became famous for it's use. Basically the highest Overdrive is called the Final Overdrive. It channels one of the magic elements or spells into your body, soul and magic and lets you do things perceived as impossible. Simon's Final Overdrive used Flare which is what made him so famous for it. Flare is non elemental and utterly devastating. I used it against that water creature when we were on the SS Winno."

"So you channel it?" Tidus asked.

"And it fights with the same purpose as you. Every strike of your sword attacks the person with the same magic whether it is just an Ice spell or a Flare and it defends you. If you channel Blizzard then you would get protection against Fire spells and so on. Flare obviously gives you protection from all spells." Harry lectured.

"But you don't choose it?" Tidus asked.

"No. The spell chooses you. Normally it is something you have an affinity for." Harry told him before turning serious. "If you ever see somebody use a Final Overdrive you run for it, you got that Tidus? No bravado, you get out of range."

Tidus stared at him strangely but nodded all the same. He didn't fancy getting into a scrap with somebody channelling one of the magical spells. "What's your Final Overdrive?"

"I haven't used it in the last four hundred years." Harry sighed. "Not since I earned the name Destroyer."

"What did you do?" Tidus frowned.

"I destroyed an army with my Final Overdrive. The only time that anything more powerful than a Flare has been channelled in a Final Overdrive." Harry told him.

"Lulu said there was only two spells more powerful that Flare." Tidus told him.

"Which are?" Harry prompted.

"Holy and Ultima." Tidus gaped at him. "Which one are you?"

"Ultima. Current specialists believe it to be impossible because the magic would tear apart the host." Harry smirked. "I've always had an affinity to that particular spell. Nothing can touch me in my Final Overdrive and anything that I touch with my sword or magic dies instantly."

Tidus gaped at him in shock but couldn't speak.

"You don't have to worry about me attacking you Tidus." Harry sighed.

Tidus shook his head to clear it. "I don't." He said quickly. "It's just everything confuses me enough here and you're just as confusing."

"Because of what I am?" Harry paused in his walk to study the boy before him.

"I…" Tidus trailed off. "Maybe not because of that, I understand what you are, or at least I think I do. It's what Simon said back in Guado."

"About?" Harry frowned silently swearing at his old lover for confusing matters.

"About you moving on. I feel like I've been dropped into the middle of this without any choice." Tidus' eyes narrowed in irritation.

"I know things are strange for you. They were for me the first time I set out into a changed world after the Cataclysm and again after Zanarkand was destroyed. It'll get easier, I promise." Harry paused to make sure Tidus was listening to him. "Just go with the flow and concentrate only on what matters and what your heart tells you."

Tidus nodded at him and offered a small smile so reminiscent of Simon's crooked one. Harry felt that he should be taking his own advice. Harry turned to look at the group only to find them slightly further away then they should have been and currently attacking one of the nastiest beasts in the Thunder Plains. "Let's go bail them out." Tidus smirked at him.

"Concentrate on every strike and if you feel that your motions are ahead of your thoughts then relax and sink into that feeling." Harry lectured, "That's the first step to triggering an Initiate Overdrive."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

It took well into the night to cross the entirety of the plains and for the last two hours of their hike it had been raining heavily and they had been forced to wade against flowing rivers. Yuna had had to banish Ixion who was rapidly weakened by the rain and flood waters which deadened her lightning driven form.

When they finally got under the immense magical and physical shelter that was Macalania Forest they were both relieved and exhausted, even Harry who had been forced to help Lulu and Rikku against the onslaught and fight off most of the creatures that had taken to attacking them in their moment of weakness. Harry found the campsite unchanged and well used after so many years and used his magic to ignite the remnants of the campfire left behind by the last group of travellers.

Tidus collapsed onto the floor in a huff but forced himself up to help gather enough wood to last the night while Lulu and Wakka started heating up the stew they had brought with them from the Agency knowing that they wouldn't want to cook properly after their trip across the Plains. Harry and Yuna laid out the bedding in three neat groups. Just like normal Lulu, Yuna Rikku would lie on one side of the triangle with Wakka, Kimahri and Auron on the other. Harry and Tidus always took the last side since both were light sleepers and the others had a tendency to fidget in their sleep.

Harry sat none to gently on his own bed roll as the group got settled. Tidus joined him and passed over some hot stew which Harry took a mouthful off and gritted his teeth against the strange taste. It was better than nothing though. The others all got settled around the campfire and as they decided that Kimahri, Lulu and Auron would take the watches that night Tidus turned to him with a mischievous glint to his eyes.

"What happens if you don't eat?" He asked knowing full well that Harry wouldn't die.

Harry rolled his eyes at him. "I tried that after Simon died. Apparently it doesn't work, I just get very thin and weak."

"Uh…" Tidus seemed to try to picture him like that and Harry snapped him out of his musing with a thump to the head before he lay down and snuggled up under the shared blanket. Tidus followed suit and by the noise around them the others all did the same baring Lulu who sidled closer to the fire for warmth. A warmth that Harry would have liked since it was very cold.

Harry unconsciously shivered and felt Tidus pull the blanket up to cover his ear. They lay like that for a time trying to warm the blankets but the air was too brisk and cold. Harry rescued his arm from the blankets and covered his face with his elbow to block out some of the cold but was completely shocked as Tidus swore a Zanarkadian swearword that he hadn't heard in a thousand years. Tidus rolled over until he was against Harry's side and slung his arm around Harry, resting his cheek against Harry's chest. Harry tensed but soon relaxed figuring that they would be warmer. He let his arm fall and pushed it under the blanket and wrapped it around Tidus' slimmer shoulders to show that he didn't mind.

In fact he found himself enjoying the closeness and warmth of the gesture and he pulled the blanket up to Tidus' chin to keep him warm as their shared body heat warmed their cocoon.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry woke in the early morning hours. Pre-dawn so around five o'clock by Harry's reckoning. Tidus was still up against his side though he was now on his back. Harry watched the boy sleep for a while before lifting his head up from the ground to find out what had woken him up. He spied it as he saw Kimahri settle himself down between Auron and Wakka as the older man sat up. Kimahri must have just woken Auron for the last watch of the night.

Figuring he wouldn't get any further rest that night he slowly sat himself up and nodded to Auron. He wouldn't bother to offer to take the watch since he knew that the old Guardian wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now either. He pulled himself from the blankets before tucking them in around the seventeen year old to stop him from getting cold.

He crouched by the side of the fire as he sorted out his clothing and retied his sheath around his torso. "Did you sleep well?" Auron asked as the man crouched beside him.

"Better for the warmth." Harry told him with a quirk of the lips.

"So I saw. As did Lulu and Kimahri I am sure." Auron told him. Harry frowned at him.

"What you all think is of no concern to me." Harry told him. Auron chuckled and smirked at him. "Shove it old man. Don't expect any pity from me before I kick your arse just because you're dead already."

A glint of humour showed in Auron's eyes before he stood. Harry followed the man up. "Tidus almost activated an Initiate Overdrive yesterday." Harry nodded in agreement. "He has potential."

"Everyone has potential, Auron." Harry countered. "But he has a desire to use that potential far greater than most."

"I will help you teach him what I know but beyond the Divergent I will be of no use." Auron told him. "I did not have the chance to unlock my own Soul Overdrive."

"Can you still learn?" Harry asked suddenly curious.

"No. I have tried but I can not retain the souls necessary." Auron told him without really caring. "My current skills are sufficient."

"Want to test that?" Harry asked and stepped away from the fire. The sun was just starting to lighten the Eastern Horizon and there was enough light for the two skilled fighters to spa in. They hadn't done so since their own Pilgrimage together and Auron and Harry could both remember in that moment the number of times that Harry had beaten down an overconfident Jecht in those training sessions.

Auron chuckled and pulled his own sword from it's back sheath and levelled it at Harry. "No magic."

"Agreed, a contest of arms only." Harry bowed slowly and flipped his sword into the air, caught it and shut down all of the element cells on it. Harry swung first letting his strike move slowly through the air for Auron to block. They warmed up in this way for five minutes before Harry took a feint at Auron's leg and the fight truly started.

They were luckily far enough away from the exhausted group that the sound of sword on sword didn't wake them until well into the dawn when Tidus finally began to feel cold again and struggled up, coming alert quickly as the sounds of fighting came to mind. He stopped and stared at the dance the two older men were performing. Each strike was met by a perfectly positioned block and the only one that seemed to get anything done was Harry who's blows seemed even more perfect than Auron's. You couldn't tell where Harry finished and the blade started. It twisted around him to block Auron's strikes like a snake protecting it's master.

Auron wasn't exactly bad but compared to Harry's grace and precision he seemed to be rather blunt but still deadly in his own way. The fight ended when Harry caught on to the fact that Tidus and the rest of the group were watching the sparing match. He struck out directly at Auron but as soon as Auron's blade hit the edge of his sword to parry it he did a strange sideways and forward step, his blade snaked around Auron's own and sent it flying to the ground as his blade smacked against Auron's wrist.

Auron grumbled something under his breath that Harry knew wasn't pleasant before he flipped his sword up into the air with his foot, caught it with his left hand and sheathed it. Harry threw a cure spell at the man to heal his wrist before stowing his own weapon. "Did everyone sleep ok?" Harry asked.

"We slept fine." Lulu told him with a knowing look that Harry returned with a cold one of his own.

"The next stage is dangerous." Harry started as he started rolling up his and Tidus' shared bedroll and handed it to Wakka to put with the rest of the equipment. "In Bevelle's wisdom they stopped patrolling the forest about fifteen years ago. Since then it has become overrun with more and more dangerous beasts that feed off of the magic that streams between the trees."

"Luckily a shortcut exists that we can take to avoid many of these creatures." Auron told them. "But be on your guards. Many of these beasts attack with magic and without warning."

"Can't we just use immunities again?" Tidus asked.

"Yuna and I will cast the basic elemental immunities but some of these creatures' strikes bypass them." Harry told them all as Kimahri and Wakka hefted the packs. Harry, Lulu and Yuna would have to be free to react quickly to counter some of the spells. "If I shout down you hit the deck without question. Understood?"

He received a round of nods and even a slightly amused expression from Yuna who after a moment started laughing. "Huh?" Tidus asked in confusion.

"I remember him telling me that ten years ago. I can even remember the bruises I got from the times he said it." Yuna chuckled at Harry's stern look even as Kimahri grunted.

"Better than Yuna being hurt." Kimahri said simply and Yuna gave him a gracious smile.

"Let's get moving." Auron ordered and the group slipped out of the campsite and further into the woods. Wakka, Auron and Yuna took point with Lulu and Tidus following and Kimahri and Harry taking up a position about five metres behind them.

As they walked the air seemed to thicken with magic, the trees began to give off their own silver glow as streams of magic twisted up through the trunks. Harry had to concentrate to keep his mind off of the creation of this forest. It was probably the oldest part of Spira dating back to the Great Cataclysm. It had originally been a forest in what was then Northern America. His Aeon had rested there attracted from it's destructive anger by the smell of the trees.

His rest had come to a sudden halt as the Muggles took the first of many strikes against him. Faced with their own annihilation they had struck with their most powerful weapons. The first strike had given him little warning and his shield had literally saturated the entire area with his own magic, filling the ground, water, plants and animals with magic so rich that it had survived two thousand years of change. The Nuclear bomb had destroyed everything around his shield and the Muggles and Wizards alike had been shocked at the defensive strength of his Aeon.

It wasn't the last time that the Muggles had launched such weapons at him though they only used two more ICBM's against him striking in one hit that had gone a long way to melting the polar icecap. From the creation of this magical forest to the final breath of the Aeon as it subsided back into Harry they had launched millions of missiles and bombs against him. Thousands of planes and their pilots, thousands of tanks and their crews had fallen to him as they tried to kill him before he could destroy everything. At least in that aspect the Powers that Be were justified in the harshness of their sentence.

"This place smells wrong." Kimahri grunted bringing Harry out of his musings. Harry looked at the Ronso beside him and frowned as he too sensed it in his magic. Something was tainting the magic of the place. It no longer made his Aeon like core bubble with peace and happiness but cringe away and lash out at the invasion at the same time.

"You're right. Something is wrong." Harry quirked his head as he listened to the forest around them. Small animals ran through the undergrowth as if fleeing from something. A small mouse like creature ran across the path ignoring the threat that they represented and was soon joined by two others. It may have been unrelated to the cause of the strange magic in the air but whatever was out there scaring these creatures it was definitely being fuelled by them.

Before he could react he heard twin footfalls, both to the left of the path and both signalled large creatures. Kimahri evidently heard it too but their reactions were different because of their different senses. Kimahri's senses told him to jump forwards to protect the others where as Harry's had sensed the build up of a magical attack.

"Down!" Harry yelled and surprisingly they all ducked down to the ground without question. Harry used a quick Aero to send himself flying forwards at Kimahri's side and flung out his magic in all directions forming a large Shell shield around the party just as a lightning blast and a ball of fire flew from the trees. The lightning hit the top of the shield and leapt across the surface before hitting the ground and tore a chunk from the path. The fire ball exploded across the side sending a wave of heat across the group safely huddled inside.

Two figures leapt from the foliage and jumped straight through the magical shield unaffected before Harry could drop it and cast a Protect Shield. The first Chimera swung at Harry and caught him harshly on the shoulder even as he dodged the blow that probably would have taken off his head. He had been too busy summoning the Shell Shield to worry about pulling his sword and he would pay for it now if he didn't avoid the blows long enough to unsheathe it. Kimahri came to his rescue as his lance appeared and struck the beast in the chest plunging the sharp edge clean through the tough leather and into flesh.

The Chimera roared and clean snapped the lance in two as it sent Kimahri flying back along the path into Auron who had just regained his stance from the first magical onslaught. Harry rolled backwards before he could reach for his sword to dodge the second Chimera.

"Harry!" Auron grunted before throwing his own sword across the ground. Harry caught on even as he ducked under another blow just to have the first Chimera send another fire ball at him. A small Shell Shield absorbed the attack and Harry felt his arms singe ever so slightly. He reached out with his Aero magic again and Auron's sword sped up its flight across the floor and zoomed towards him. Harry jumped sideways and caught the handle using it's speed to slash at the neck of the first Chimera. The sharp blade cut through leather skin and flesh and the Chimera screamed in pain before crashing backwards to the ground. Pyreflies started streaming from the neck wound.

Harry tossed the sword back to a waiting Auron and gratefully pulled his own sword from it's sheath. Feeling adrenaline pumping through him from the fight and from the cracked shoulder blade he could feel he knew he could easily activate an Initiate Overdrive and he smirked and held the sword out to one side in a challenge. His arms lit with shimmering Myst before the waves united over his head. His sword began to glow with waves of white light before he flung it forwards and up. It shuddered to a halt about five feet above the Chimera's head and turned to point down even as it spun in tight circles.

The Myst began to flow down his body and into the ground looking as if white lava was flowing between himself and the Chimera where they began to circle it before reaching up out of the ground to hold it's legs in place. White light began to shoot in a cage around the Chimera as the sword spun faster and faster on it's point until there was nothing but dust and white light surrounding the Chimera and the sword. The entire cage exploded up into the air and vanished into Myst before it reached the canopy of leaves leaving nothing in it's wake but the claw marks where the Chimera had been standing.

The sword dropped to the ground and stood upright until Harry relaxed his pose and strolled forwards to lift it and resheathe it. "That was fun." He remarked to the shocked faces.

Tidus looked confused as if working something out before he frowned. "That was your Initiate Overdrive?"

Harry nodded simply. Wakka laughed nervously as he ran his hands through his hair. "I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that, ya know?"

"It is considerably weaker than his other Overdrives and even my own Initiate." Auron told them.

"What!?" Tidus almost yelped.

"It looks flashy and everything but it can only kill targets in a very small area and takes all of my concentration to maintain." Harry told Tidus and the others. "Leaving me open to other opponents and without a sword to protect myself with."

"It's still impressive though." Lulu pointed out.

"We need to get moving." Harry told them to divert their attention. "Those creatures were driven by something and this place feels wrong to me. The magic doesn't flow as neutrally as it used to."

The others frowned but didn't seem to see any point in arguing this with him. They reformed their lines except Kimahri swapped his position with Tidus so that Harry and the seventeen year old were walking at the back together. Harry rolled his shoulder to ease the tension.

"That looks nasty." Tidus pointed out making Harry snap his head around to look at him. Tidus was looking at his upper left arm. Harry looked down to where his sleeveless top stopped and noticed the lattice of deep red bruising.

"It's nastier then it looks." Harry admitted pulling up the fabric to look under it. He hadn't realised what the bones had done to his muscles and flesh and even though a Cura spell could heal it, it wouldn't do much if the bone wasn't set. He paused in his walking to get a better feel for it. His shoulder blade protruded slightly and even though it hadn't broken the skin it had torn apart his muscles. He swore loud enough to alert the others just as Auron stopped the group at where the shortcut should have started though Harry didn't notice this just yet.

"What's the matter?" Auron called.

"I need to do some healing." Harry told him.

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked stepping forwards in concern.

"Chimera catch Harry on shoulder." Kimahri told everything after evidently ignoring that point after the battle.

"Are you hurt badly?" Yuna asked.

Harry shrugged but winced as the movement ran through his broken bone. He undid his sleeveless top and eased it off his left shoulder slowly and turned his head to see the damage.

"Well that's definitely broken." Tidus pointed out as he stepped it closer. The others grouped around and most frowned at the highly faded scars that circled under his left rib cage. A small reminder of a fight he had gotten into a hundred years ago when the enemy had managed to nearly cut him in two with a sword.

"I need somebody to set it so I can heal it." Harry told them.

"You shouldn't cast healing magic on yourself in a situation like that." Yuna pointed out.

"No offence Yuna, but is your new Cura spell up to the challenge of healing bones fully?" Harry asked without malice.

"Well no, but I can use it to partially mend it while your still in pain. After that you can heal it fully." Her eyes held no irritation or jealousy and Harry had to admit it was the best option. He nodded at her and glanced at Tidus who's eyes widened as he realised what he wanted.

"Wha…?" He gasped. "You want me to?"

"Why not?" Harry asked. "Just push both sides of bone forwards into my shoulder until you hear them crack into place and hold my shoulder steady until I say so."

"You're sure you want me to?" Tidus asked.

Harry chuckled. "Just do it." Harry managed not to cry out as Tidus' hands rested on the skin of his back but didn't manage to stop the small cry of pain as his hands set the bones back into place. Yuna's magic flooded him and her newly learnt Cura spell settled into the bones forming a weak link between the two halves. Harry took a deep breath and brought up his other hand and placed it on his shoulder before flooding himself with his own more concentrated Cura spell. His shoulder glowed white as the bone fully healed as strong as it was before.

He used a quick Cure spell to heal the bruises and muscle tears before letting Tidus help him put his top back on properly. He didn't comment as Tidus' hands lingered on the skin of his shoulder for a moment longer than necessary and just gave him a small smile of thanks as he backed off.

"Harry, we have another problem." Auron spoke up.

"What is it?" Harry asked looking up. They were at the crossroads but there were only three paths. The one they had come down, the one that led to Bevelle and the one that led across the complex branches of the forest. The fourth wasn't there. "Damn."

"Precisely." Auron shook his head.

"What!?" Wakka snapped not knowing the problem.

"The shortcut should be there." Harry pointed at the fourth side of the crossroads before turning to Wakka. "What ever is affecting the magic in the forest must have destabilised it."

"What?" Tidus was confused.

"The shortcut is a magical trail that leads up and through the canopy, it would greatly shorten our trip to the north of the forest. We will have to walk through the low levels which means fighting beasts the entire way." Harry sighed. At least Tidus would get his training in, as long as they didn't all get killed.

"Joy." Tidus muttered as Auron rallied the group to start their voyage deeper into the forest. Harry gripped him on the shoulder and gave him a lazy smile to bolster his courage.

"Yuna, Lulu, at the first sign of trouble bring up Shells and Protects on the group. I'll concentrate on the different attacks thrown at us." Harry ordered knowing that he had the most experience about what the beast could throw at them plus his Quatra Bracer would give him protection against most elemental attacks.

"Roger!" Yuna smirked as she mock saluted. Tidus chuckled at the gesture and mimicked it before running off to walk with Yuna. Harry sighed knowing that the kid needed some attention from people his own age. Harry acted the same age as Tidus half the time but his mentality was nowhere near Tidus' own. He didn't know what Simon was thinking in suggesting that they could work. Harry rubbed at his forehead before beginning their long slog through the depths of one of the most dangerous places in Spira. Even though he loved the place and had lived within the forest for a couple of hundred years that didn't mean he wasn't always reminded of what the Muggles had done to try to stop him.

What Yevon had thrown at him was nothing when compared to that and it was that more than anything that proved just how powerful he was and tempted him into believing that his Aeon could destroy Sin. Sin might have been killed by a Nuclear ICBM but luckily Yevon didn't have any of those or the world would have been destroyed long ago.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Later that day**

It was nearing late mid afternoon by the time they reached the last stretch of the journey and even Harry was beginning to feel strained though it was because he was using so much more magic than the others. All three of Yuna's Aeons, Valefor, Ifrit and Ixion had done their fair share of fighting, proving very much the equals of the larger beasts like the Chimeras. Tidus was shattered by the time they came off from the last branch that made up the path and it was only Auron's need to speak with Harry that allowed him, Lulu, Yuna and Wakka a chance to collapse to the ground with glares directed at Harry, Auron and even Kimahri who was innocent as far as blame went.

"I want to make a stop soon." Auron told him once they had walked on enough not to be overheard.

"At the Life Tree?" Harry asked and he nodded. Harry remembered that he and Auron, along with Jecht and Braska had stopped there for the night rather then at the Travel Agency only half a mile away. "This has something to do with Jecht."

"Yes." Was Auron simple reply. "He told me where he hid a recording of a message for Tidus before… before it happened."

"One he made for Tidus?" Harry asked. "Maybe he wasn't such an idiot then to have thought about that one. But when was that?" Harry didn't remember seeing that.

"We stopped there again on the way back North." Auron sighed. "Jecht was a lot more mature by that point."

"I hardly think that mature is a word that can ever be used for that man." Harry shook his head. "Tidus is more mature now at seventeen than he ever was."

"You've taken a liking to Tidus." Auron frowned at him. "He's a bit too…"

"Shut your mouth, _Sir _Auron." Harry almost hissed surprising even himself with the threat in his tone. "You have no idea."

Auron chuckled and Harry almost drew his blade and impaled the man only it wouldn't do any good at this point but prove he was already dead. "Oh yes, I've been beginning to wonder exactly how old you are and where I've seen you between Braska's pilgrimage and now and also why you're protecting Tidus more than Yuna."

"Oh really?" Harry snarled. "And what is the legendary Guardian's thoughts then?"

"You didn't just know I brought Tidus from the other world, you were there." Auron told him bluntly. "I saw you on that roof top just before Sin wiped it out."

"Oh very good, Auron." Harry refrained from outright clapping. "Now let me tell you something that'll really confuse you. Sin didn't bring Tidus to Yuna, he brought Tidus to me because Jecht wants to die and he's scared of me. You just think on that for a while."

Auron stared at him in shock. He knew that Harry had taken a fervent liking to Tidus that he knew was partly through attraction on both their parts just like Yuna was attracted to Tidus and he'd worked out that Harry had been the cryptic person soon after Djose Temple when Harry had told him about knowing Tidus was there but he'd never considered that Jecht had brought Tidus to Harry and not to Yuna.

"Yuna's the one that can summon the Final Summoning though." Auron pointed out to open space not even noticing that Harry had disappeared to start getting the others up again. He shook it off knowing that he didn't want to get Harry angry with him. That morning's sparring had only proven that even after ten more years of training he still didn't come close to being able to attack Harry. Whoever the man was he was far beyond Auron's level. He did however file away that if Harry did something bad it would take the whole group to stop him and that was only if the others pulled out all the stops and trained beyond their current levels.

It wasn't that Auron didn't trust Harry but he really didn't know what the man's agenda was. All he knew was that he had joined Braska's pilgrimage to get away from Bevelle after having been sneaking around. The Warrior Monks had all been touchy that day and only Braska's presence had allowed them to leave without question and after everything in Luca he wasn't sure whether he'd want Harry to handle anything to do with Yevon. He vowed to make sure that the others all stepped up their training, an easy thing to convince them of since the only paths of the Pilgrimage left were very dangerous.

"Sir Auron?" Wakka's voice brought his attention back to the situation at hand. Harry gave him a sly smile before raising his sword. Auron felt sorely tempted to dodge and almost did but Harry's sweep was clearly angled nowhere near him. The blade caught light before smashing through a thick wall of branches right where the path to the Life Tree stood.

"What's this?" Tidus asked.

"The life of this forest." Lulu told him before turning to Harry. "I saw it before though we didn't stop."

"And we don't plan on it now, I thought Tidus, Yuna, Wakka and Kimahri would like to see it." Harry told them not mentioning his own desire to set the magic of the forest to rights or Auron's desire to show Tidus some of Jecht's life beyond Zanarkand.

"So this is a big tree right?" Tidus asked. Harry chuckled but didn't answer. "But it's just a tree, we've seen a thousand."

"According to legends a great beast was slain here and it's magic was soaked into this tree. It is reputably the oldest thing in Spira." Lulu lectured. Tidus eyed Harry but didn't voice anything.

"What was the beast?" He asked instead.

"A great monster." Wakka declared.

"Nobody really knows." Lulu countered with half a glare. "There are different stories but I like to believe it was a nice creature otherwise the magic wouldn't have created a place this peaceful."

They'd by this time come into view of the tree. It was taller than the others around it, glowing with silver light that dripped from the ends of it's leafless branches into the stream and pool around it's feet. "Whoa!" Wakka gasped.

"How did they kill the beast?" Tidus asked rather than giving his view on the tree.

"With Machina that's how!" Wakka declared, "Back before Zanarkand even existed! And Zanarkand's Machina was even stronger."

"Yet that is Ancient history." Harry silenced Tidus with a small promise of future information before an argument could start. "Only those that lived it could ever truly know what happened to that creature. Perhaps since Tidus is our expert on Zanarkand he is the best to tell us if they had anything powerful enough to destroy the world."

"But…" Lulu silenced Wakka's argument before Tidus could get too embarrassed. It was clear that Lulu and Wakka were both in the idea that Tidus had simply been affected by the Toxin though Lulu might believe that Zanarkand did exist given time.

Yuna had ventured further towards the tree and Harry turned to see Tidus looking after her. She snapped her head up to the right just as a cube shaped Metamorph crashed out of the tree line. Harry yanked at her with Aero magic and she screamed as she was yanked out of the way.

Kimahri leapt forwards and caught her before Harry's magic sent her into the ground. "What the hell is that?" Tidus swore as he pulled his sword.

"It's a Metamorph; a very rare Fiend found in magically saturated places." Auron lectured as their group readied themselves for battle as the eyeless and faceless cube floated above the Life Tree's magical pool. Harry knew it was what had been polluting the flow of magic.

"It changes between types of magic and is highly resistant to physical attacks unless you can hit the brain." Harry gestured with his sword. "And that will only work if you set the sword to the right element."

"And how are we supposed to know that?" Wakka frowned.

Harry didn't have to answer as magic throbbed through the air. Harry flung a Reflect Shield over Auron just as a lightning bolt flew from the sky, it bounced off of the shield and ricocheted into the plasma surrounding the Metamorph which simply absorbed the spell and would have healed itself if it was hurt. "Like that. Tidus hit it!"

Tidus barely hesitated before dashing forwards with his Water based sword. The same sword that Wakka had given him in Besaid and that Rikku had unlocked lately. The water bubbled around the edge and struck out just as the blade hit the plasma around the brain of the cube. The lightning charged plasma yielded to the opposite element and Tidus' sword scratched the surface of the brain before the lightning from the plasma arched into Tidus' hand and shocked him away.

It flung itself after Tidus before the boy could stand and Harry jumped forwards and brought his own newly water charged blade in a slash that caught the Metamorph in mid air. A water spell struck from Lulu sending the wounded creature backwards but before either he, Tidus or Lulu could follow up the attack the form rippled from the brain outwards, healing the damage. Lulu went to attack again but Harry held his sword out to the side to stop her. "Wait for it to show it's element and then hit it."

"It healed itself!" Yuna cried is desperation as it lurched forwards with a physical attack that was only barely stopped with Kimahri's lance though the weapon did nothing but fling it away.

"It lost plasma when it changed form." Auron lectured. "Beat it down enough and you can attack the core with anything you want."

"Couldn't you use Flare or something?" Tidus asked as the thing physically attacked Wakka who was launched backwards into a tree. Yuna sent a healing spell his way as the group slowly circled around their enemy.

"Yes." Harry told him. "But you need to practice. Here use this, the glowing buttons on the hilt decide the cell."

"What!?" Tidus only just managed to drop his own sword and catch Harry's much heavier one as it was tossed to him.

"I can attack with magic, you can't." Harry told him. Wakka swore inelegantly as the Metamorph struck out again physically almost sending him back into the tree. Harry was ready for the next attack and wasn't disappointed as it had changed into the Water element in the hope that they would have healed it before realising their mistake.

A wall of water swept towards Harry and Tidus but Harry used it to his advantage and struck out with a Thundaga spell that struck the wall when it was still closer to the Metamorph. The strong Waterga spell only managed to destroy itself and channel the lightning back to the best looking target; the water charged plasma.

The Metamorph screeched in pain as it was electrocuted leaving a gaping hole in the side of the plasma which, to Harry shock at his speed, Tidus slashed into with a newly lightning charged sword.

The next shift brought two bolts of lightning down from the sky though the attack was far weaker than it's original. Lulu through a Shell shield over Auron as he was hit though he still got singed. The second bolt hit Harry though at the last moment Harry raised his left arm and a small shield nullified the lightning as his Quatra Bracer proved itself worthy of the several hundred thousand Gill that Harry had spent building it so many years ago.

It shifted again before Harry, Tidus or Lulu could attack and almost immediately sent a cloud of ice shards at an unprotected Kimahri who got sliced in the leg as he leapt aside. Harry threw a powerful Fira spell at it still wanting the others to get more training in even though this battle was difficult. Lulu did exactly the same at the same time and the Fira spells severely hurt it. Tidus got in a clean shot straight to the brain with a burning sword and split the brain almost in two. The rest of the plasma bled off into the magical stream where it had originated from and Auron, Wakka and Kimahri leapt into battle each hitting the brain a couple of times to utterly destroy it.

The cloud of pyreflies was almost pretty to Harry as it bled up into the sky. Harry accepted his sword from Tidus with a smile of congratulations and a quick encouraging word and then went to sit near the entrance to the grove to let the others explore and let Auron show Tidus the sphere recording hidden here somewhere.

He noticed that Yuna had changed in attitude since the Thunderplains, many times he had caught her staring off into space. He hadn't brought it up though since he knew what she was thinking about. She was rethinking her decision not to marry Seymour. The reasons that Seymour had given her were ridiculous but she wasn't using them to make her decision.

He knew very well that Maester Jyscal was murdered, the circumstances were just too suspicious and if Jyscal's soul had tried to contact Yuna then it could only have been about his murder. And low and behold, Yuna was now rethinking passing up the opportunity to marry Seymour. It didn't take two thousand years of experience to join the dots. He caught the young girl's eye and made a vague 'come-hither' gesture. She frowned but stood from her perch on a tree root and made her way over. Kimahri watched her but knew that Harry would protect her so stayed where he was.

She popped down beside him and sighed. Harry turned to her with a small grin. "So you're rethinking whether to marry Seymour?"

She started with a small squeak. "How did you know that?"

"Why else would you be distracted enough to leave yourself open? Kimahri has also noticed as he has had to save you several times today because you've been staring off into space." Harry told her.

"I'm sorry!" She stared around her at everyone trying to find some form of accusation from them.

Harry chuckled at her. "Why have you changed your mind?"

"Well, like he said." Yuna straightened up slightly, "The people need a boost and my marriage to a Maester would help to unite everyone."

"You're lying again." Harry pointed out but interrupted her before she could argue. "What about your Pilgrimage?"

"I'll make it a requirement for the marriage." Yuna assured him. "He wont be able to stop me."

"Good." Harry nodded before noticing a rather upset looking Tidus withdraw from watching a small blue sphere, a recording from his father. "When is somebody going to tell Tidus the truth about this Pilgrimage?"

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked unconvincingly.

"He is still under the impression that this is a righteous journey with a happy ending." Harry told her. "When are _you_ going to tell him the truth?"

"Why haven't you told him?" Yuna almost hissed at him.

"Do you have any idea how many children I've consoled who's brothers went off on Pilgrimage and never made it?" Harry half glared at her. "I can remember the tear covered faces amongst the cheering crowds when the Calm started."

He only just managed to change his words so he didn't know he was describing all the final battles he had lived through as the multitude of people he knew, he had befriended died along with Sin.

"They whisper secrets to me." Yuna stood and turned to look at her. "They whisper about Anima and about Seymour. But they whisper more about you, that you've seen more than you tell us."

"You're Fayths?" Harry grinned slightly and she frowned.

"I ask but they won't tell me!" Yuna gritted her teeth and Harry's grin widened. His old friends were tempting fate, leading her to work out what he was without actually telling her. "Are you lying to us?"

Harry lost his grin suddenly and she almost gasped in shock at the shift in character. "Everybody is lying, Lady Summoner. Very few are doing it for good reason."

She watched as he slipped across the clearing to Tidus but could stop the shiver from running down her spine. Three voices whispered through her head, all saying different things so she couldn't understand them but one that she did hear was 'Destroyer.' Were they talking about Seymour again or about Harry? Hadn't Seymour called Harry the Destroyer?

Harry smirked knowing that his words had only managed to confuse her further. Tidus was sitting on the ground cradling the sphere as if it would sprout legs and run away if he gave it any freedom. He eyed Auron who was watching the boy carefully. Harry crouched down in front of Tidus silently and waited. He knew that Auron was backing away and was highly tempted to glare at the man.

"Tidus?" Harry spoke quietly but continued when he didn't get a reaction. "Tidus, we need to go."

Tidus' head snapped up and he reached up a hand to wipe furiously wipe at tears on his face. "He said he believed in me." Tidus told him. "It didn't matter, it was too late."

"Let me tell you something, Tidus." Harry spoke softly. "It is never to late for a father to say such a thing. He isn't dead and now you have a chance to show him that you deserve his faith."

"Why should I have to prove anything to him?" Tidus almost growled out.

"He took these pictures because he hoped to return home again." Harry told him. "He wanted to see you and your mother again."

"That doesn't sound like him." Tidus told him.

"People change Tidus." Harry told him sincerely. "He chose to become Sin to save a lot of people. Does that sound like the same man you once knew?"

Tidus shook his head minutely and Harry stood and held out his hand. Tidus blinked in surprise but slowly reached up and took it. Harry pulled him to his feet and waited for Tidus to straighten himself up before squeezing his shoulder and moving to gather the others.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Yuna announced before they left about her change of heart and whereas Wakka and Lulu were partly happy that she was marrying a Maester, Tidus and Rikku were horrified and only Harry and Auron's collective weight stopped them from arguing the matter with her. They exited the forest only half an hour later and they all shivered violently as they walked out onto the top of a cliff where the path quickly turned right and slipped down along a ridge down to the vast plain of ice below them.

Harry saw a flash of the hidden city below the ice and the frozen bodies there and he shuddered. Tidus gave him a concerned look knowing also what must be under there. "Where's the Temple?" He asked to divert Harry's attention.

"It's within the ridges there." Lulu told him. "We have to cross the ice lake first."

"An ice lake?" Rikku sounded concerned. "But it isn't cold enough!"

Harry snorted in amusement before turning to head down to the Agency nestled against the side of the cliff. He did hear Auron's amused response that it wasn't really a lake but Tidus didn't bother to tell them all what Harry had told him.

They walked in near silence down to the Agency but Harry didn't actually want them to stop there for the night. It was only mid afternoon and he wanted to get to the Temple first. They would have to pass back through the forest to get to Bevelle and he'd rather they started back through fresh. They paused only to get some warm food before starting down the steep hill and onto the wide expanse of the frozen lake that covered Brentari.

"It's a bit creepy walking over this knowing what's under it." Tidus muttered to him.

"At least you can't picture each of the buildings that used to be here." Harry told him ignoring Tidus' concerned look. "I went down there once and it isn't a pretty scene."

"What do you mean?"

"Even after fifteen hundred years the bones will still be there, exactly as they were when it happened." Harry sighed and heard Tidus gulp loudly. Auron stopped walking suddenly in front of them and turned to look at Tidus with a strange look in his eyes. Harry rose an eyebrow to see whether Auron wanted him to excuse himself or not but the man half shrugged before speaking.

"Jecht loved you." Auron spoke quietly but both Harry and Tidus heard him.

"Oh, come on!" Tidus scoffed. "Please!"

"He just didn't know how to express it, he said." Auron assured him.

"Enough about my old man, okay!?" Tidus snapped.

"I just thought you should know." Auron told him before turning and starting to walk away.

"Thanks." Tidus sighed before looking up at Harry surprised that he was still there. Harry gave him a crooked smile before looking back at the crowd. His hand instantly went to his sword hilt as he spotted the Guado approaching across the ice.

"Lady Yuna, we've been expecting you." The Guado, Tromell if Harry remembered right, greeted Yuna and ignored everybody else. "We were surprised you decided to come so soon. Pleasantly surprised, of course. Lord Seymour sends his apologies for having left without notice."

Harry almost snorted, the Guado aide would have been perfectly aware that Yuna would have to travel this way. "It's quite alright." Yuna assured him. "I have one question, if I may, sir?"

"My lady?" He asked.

"I want to keep journeying, even if I marry." Yuna told him. "Do you think that Maester Seymour would let me?"

"But of course, My Lady." Tromell nodded quickly. "He wishes for nothing else, I'm sure."

"You'd better be." Harry spoke up as he stepped around Auron and Kimahri. Tromell tensed in an instant and his arms began to shake. "Ah so you know who I am. Good, then you will now that I wont take it lightly if Seymour is doing this for anything but it's surface values."

Tromell stammered in shock for a few seconds before starting to reach for a staff at his waist. "No!" Yuna cried out as she saw the tension rising. "He's not here to cause problems."

"My Lady, this is the man that attacked Luca Stadium." Tromell told her.

"I believe he is innocent of such a crime." Yuna declared. "Should we not be going?"

Harry was impressed with the girl, she was for once using her status to calm a situation. "Of course, My Lady!" Tromell gushed and held out a hand for her. "We must follow Guado tradition, I'll have to ask you to wait here for a little longer. I will send an escort for you."

"I…" Yuna stammered as she looked between the retreating Tromell and her guardians.

"We're all with you. Do as you will." Auron told them.

"Thank you." Yuna nodded at the group before heading off after Tromell.

"Sorry that was your line." Auron muttered to Tidus.

Tidus frowned but dashed forwards onto the ice. "Yuna!" The girl turned to look at him and he whistled through his fingers. She gave him a mock salute. Harry heard the dull throb of engines and Rikku jumped forward.

"Oh no!" She gasped. Harry looked over at the north end of the lake. Several Al'bhed bikes were speeding across the ice followed by a larger machine that Harry didn't recognise for a few moments until it was closer. A Yevon built ballistic tank decided to fire short range anti personnel rockets and it definitely had the rockets attached as well as having a gattling canon attached to the front.

"Al'bhed!" Wakka spat in disgust. The group ran across the ice as fast as they could though Harry followed at a more sedate pace.

"**Rikku, don't interfere or you get this!"** A voice shouted in Al'bhed from the top of one of the small islands of land that rose from the edge of the lake. "**Your precious Aeons and Magic are sealed."**

"Oh no!" Rikku gasped.

"Translation?" Tidus asked as the group came to a halt between Yuna and the approaching machina.

"He's going to use an Anti-magic field against us!" Rikku told them.

"**Get them!"** The Al'bhed yelled and the tank leapt into the air on it's springs and came down at them. Rocket's fired from it's back and the group dived to either side as the blast rocked the area. Harry growled out in anger and pulled his sword. The tank came down between Harry and the rest and it's automated systems overlooked him.

It's gattling cannons opened fire even as Yuna attempted to summon and Lulu tried to cast a Thundara spell. Both failed before they could even start. Tidus yelped in pain as one of the bullets grazed his arm sending him flying backwards. Harry growled out in fury before boosting his jump high into the air, using an Aero to boost him the needed height so that he could destroy the small hovering anti-magic booster.

Even whilst still in his flight he twisted around and reached deep into his magic. Instead of just the normal lightning forking from the sky his over charged Thundaga spell filled the sky with clouds. The lightning obliterated the tank's back and set off the rockets Harry knew were stored there an instant before the thunderclap sent all those there flying.

Harry landed heavily and spun in a tight circle casting a fire around him before sending it outwards over the prone forms of his friends and the Guado. The ring of fire slammed into the riders on the bikes and sent them flying with serious burns. The bikes skidded across the ice until they came to a stop and Harry grunting in satisfaction knowing that he hadn't killed any of the Al'bhed riders.

He smirked across at a shocked Tromell and wasn't in the least shocked when the Guado turned to Auron with a grateful bow. Harry hissed through his teeth as he watched Tromell escort Yuna off. He had to give the Guado Aide one point though, he had put himself between the approaching Al'bhed and Yuna to protect her. That didn't make up for the fact that Seymour's personal Aide would have to of been aware of the Guado's attacks on Luca Stadium.

"**Rikku!" **The Al'bhed shouted in his thick accent. "**I will tell father."**

Harry felt a wide grin spread across his face. Another of Cid's children. "**I am the guardian of Yuna, you see?"** Rikku yelled back as the rest of the group looked on in confusion. She thought she was safe since none of the group spoke Al'bhed. "**Yuna is safe! We will guard her! She is safe!"**

Harry glanced at Wakka who was slowly going red in the face. Harry decided it was time to make a point. He glanced at where Tidus was on the ground with blood pooling through his bare arm. Lulu was fumbling around him but Harry wanted to deal with this first and then he'd heal the graze. He raised his hands as he took three steps forwards to get in front of Rikku and get her brother's attention. His hands clapped together over his head and the concussion from the clouds still over their heads shook the ground as two lightning bolts slammed into the ridge that the Al'bhed man stood on. The blasts were far enough away to only just shock him but they cracked through the ice with ease. The ground between the blasts sunk down the slope slightly and the man lost his balance and was forced to leap to the sides to avoid going down with the avalanche.

"Harry! Stop!" Rikku leapt forwards and grabbed his arms. "He wont attack again!"

"**Quiet!"** Harry snapped in Al'bhed making her go pale at his knowledge of her language. Harry turned to the man. "**Tell Cid that if he attacks this party again then Harry, his old friend, will raise Home to the ground!"**

The man stared in surprise and Rikku looked at Harry with the same look in her eyes. She obviously hadn't connected him to any stories that Cid could have told her about him. Like the fact he had helped fund the building of Home and helped to gather the separate Al'bhed factions together under one leader. He'd just admitted that he was at least fifty in her eyes since Cid would surely have told her that when he was eighteen and older man had helped him travel the country and meet the other groups. "**You do this alone, Rikku!" **With that the man scrambled backwards off of the ridge and joined the fleeing Al'bhed from the bikes.

"Wha!?" Wakka gaped at the two as they turned. Harry sent Rikku a small glare of irritation before he headed for Tidus with a different, more concerned look.

"It's a good thing you're so fast or this might have killed you." Harry told him as he saw the graze cutting just above the boy's elbow.

"Can you heal it?" Lulu asked in concern.

Harry placed a hand over the wound ignoring the blood that spread over his hand and funnelled a strong Curaga into Tidus' arm. He could feel the skin re-knit under his palm and felt warmth bubble up through him as he saw the pain vanish from Tidus' face to be replaced with gratitude. Harry gave him a smile before leaning forwards to whisper in his ear. "Time to do damage control before Rikku and Wakka try to kill each other."

Tidus snapped his head around to his two other friends and scrambled to his feet to head them off from their argument. Evidently Wakka had just called her a heathen.

"**Better a heathen than a Yevonite."** Harry spoke simple in Al'bhed as he too joined the group. Wakka and Rikku were staring each other down while Auron stood watching in amusement. Kimahri was watching to make sure things didn't escalate. Lulu and Tidus joined the conversation by standing near to either person. Lulu with Wakka and Tidus with Rikku though neither took actual sides. At Harry's words Rikku and Wakka both rounded on him. Wakka glared viciously.

"We have nothing against Yevon." Rikku told Harry with a small glare.

"What did you say!?" Wakka turned on Harry as Rikku gave that vital clue about Harry's words.

"I said, 'Better an Al'bhed than a Yevonite.'" Harry smirked at him.

"But you Al'bhed use the forbidden machina!" Wakka turned his argument back on Rikku knowing better than to argue with Harry. "You know what that means? Sin was born because people used machina."

"Where's the proof?" Rikku glared back. "Show me proof!"

"Good girl." Harry chuckled.

"It's in Yevon's teachings." Wakka smirked down at her condescendingly. "Not that you'd know."

"That's not good enough!" Rikku snapped. "Yevon says this, Yevon says that. Don't you ever think for yourselves?"

"Well then, you tell me!" Wakka yelled. "Where did Sin come from, huh?"

"I…" Rikku stumbled. "I don't know."

"You bad mouth Yevon and that's the best you can come up with?" Wakka sneered.

"But that doesn't mean you should do everything they say without thinking!" Rikku pointed out. Harry was impressed, she was keeping her cool better than Wakka was. "Nothing will ever change that way."

"Nothing has to change!" Wakka retorted making Harry laugh loudly though he covered it with a grin and sat down on the ice with a bored manner to him. Auron sent him an exasperated glare knowing that Harry could do something to stop this argument even though Auron couldn't.

"You want Sin to keep coming back?" Rikku glared.

"Sin will be gone when we atone for our past mistakes." Harry forced himself not to snort at this comment from Wakka.

"When?" Rikku challenged. "How?"

"If we keep to Yevon's teachings it will be gone one day." Wakka announced.

Harry was on his feet in a second. "**Give it a rest Rikku."** The girl snapped her mouth shut with a snap. "Wakka?"

"What?" The man glared at him.

"Sin will never be gone for the reasons that Yevon declares." Harry told him quietly. "It is a scar on this world outclassed only by two beings. It can never be destroyed by simple ethics. Learn this now or you will never reach the end of this pilgrimage."

"Wha…?" Wakka gaped at him before it turned to a glare. "How come you can speak Al'bhed? You're supposed to be a Yevonite."

Harry snorted. "The Al'bhed are more Yevonites than I am!" He chuckled for a moment before turning to glance at Rikku. "I helped Rikku's father unite the Al'bhed. Knowing the language helped."

Nobody noticed the way the words were twisted, they'd assume that Cid had taught him. Rikku stared at him in wonder. "**That would make you at least fifty!"**

"Maybe I am?" Harry raised an eyebrow at the girl. At this rate it wouldn't be long before they worked out what he was and Harry was more intrigued than worried. Normally his Summoner-Guardian groups only found out when Yunalesca told them.

"What did he say?" Lulu frowned as Harry turned his back on the group though he had no trouble hearing Rikku telling the other woman what she had worked out. Even Wakka stuck around to conspire against him. Tidus dashed over to his side and slapped him playfully.

"Why did you go admitting that?"

"If they think I'm fifty then they are still guessing far too low." Harry chuckled. "It doesn't bother me what they know."

"It bothers me." Tidus told him.

"Why?" Harry asked as he heaved on of the bikes up and swung over the seat. He leaned back and took in Tidus' concerned look.

"If they decide you're dangerous then they'll make me choose and I promised to watch over Yuna." Tidus told him.

"They already think I'm dangerous, Tidus."

"But Auron's worried about what you're planning!" Tidus half glared at him wanting Harry to take this situation seriously.

Harry eyed the old Guardian dolefully. He was well aware that Auron had been wondering whether the group could overpower Harry but wasn't overly concerned. They might get in a lucky shot but they could kill him and Harry could easily kill one or all of them though he was loathe to do such a thing. "I know he is, Tidus. I'll let you decide what to do if he confronts me."

"What!?" Tidus gaped at him. Harry smirked. "Are you just going to let him gang the others up on you? Yuna is already suspicious and now Seymour will know you are travelling with us! Auron has been worried about you turning on us for a week and now you've alienated Wakka but insulting Yevon. He thinks you believe that Yevon created Sin!"

"Yevon didn't create Sin, Tidus." Harry interrupted the boy.

"So you blame the Al'bhed for their machina?" Tidus accused.

Harry slipped off the bike and grabbed Tidus by the arms to calm him down before the boy turned on him as well. "If I was going to join this petty game about blaming one of this party for their races efforts in Sin's creation then it would be you I blame Tidus!"

Tidus gasped as his eyes went wide. "What?"

"Sin is the manifestation of a man's need for revenge against the destroyers of Zanarkand's way of life." Harry told him before the rest of the group interrupted them. Harry backed away and swung onto the bike as Rikku went to check on the others. Tidus slipped over to a separate bike to offer Rikku a ride and Harry knew that he had unnerved the boy. He watched Tidus for a moment feeling regret nag at him for the first time in years. Maybe he had said too much.

He could see by their changed expression that they'd all been thinking on the short bike ride to the Temple. Auron was watching everybody stoically as usual but his gaze barely ever moved off of Harry, it was like the first time they had met. Auron had just realised that Harry still had so many secrets hidden. He'd been the one to warn Braska not to accept Harry's help on their pilgrimage but had warmed up to Harry over time. Any trust that the man had in him had evaporated as soon as Auron had realised just how much Harry spoke against Yevon and just how many secrets Harry wasn't telling everyone.

Wakka was outright refusing to respond to him, he cast his eyes everywhere but at Harry utterly denying anything Harry said about Yevon or Sin, or even the Al'bhed. Harry knew that as far as Wakka was concerned Harry and the Al'bhed stood for everything he disliked about the world. Lulu cast Harry a single apologetic look before walking with Wakka and Harry knew that she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Possibly only before he had saved her when he had come across her stumbling about the Calm Lands after the death of her Summoner.

Kimahri was stoic in his attention as always, he was unnerved by his separation from Yuna and Harry wasn't sure what the Ronso would do if it came to a civil war within the group. The others would definitely need his help to fight Harry that was for sure. Rikku was a little warmer to Harry though after his sudden understanding of Al'bhed she was a little unnerved especially after his forceful words outside the Travel Agency in the Thunder plains and now his history with her father.

Tidus had a queer look on his face as if he was troubled over something that had been said, probably Harry's words before but he was also looking at Rikku with confused looks. Evidently she had said something on the way that he didn't understand.

They turned to the Temple and walked towards the entrance but even after Wakka and Lulu walked through the open doors a Priest stepped in front of Rikku with a shake of his head. "The likes of her are not welcome in this hallowed place."

"There is nothing in the laws that forbid her entrance to anywhere but the cloister." Harry pointed out as he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder to stop her arguing. "And that does not take into account that she is a Guardian."

"An Al'bhed? A guardian?" The Priest frowned. "Preposterous!"

"I've decided to be Yuna's guardian now and that is all I want." Rikku spoke up regardless of Harry's restraining hand and seeing that she wouldn't blow up at the Priest he released her shoulder.

"And that's all that one needs to be a guardian." Auron spoke up trying to placate the man without a scene.

"Very well, she may enter." The Priest nodded but then smirked at Harry. "You however are forbidden entry."

"On who's orders!?" Auron frowned.

"By order of Maester Seymour's personal Aide, Tromell Guado." The Priest looked self righteous as he said this.

Harry took a step forwards and the Priest staggered backwards. "How exactly do you plan on stopping me?"

"I have been fighting with Shiva for fifteen years!" The Priest boasted. "You can not enter without my permission.

"Having your Temple's rules dictated to you by a mere Aide? How the mighty Temples have fallen!" Harry chuckled. "But still the Fayths reign over all Temples. I challenge you to summon against me!"

"What?" Lulu and Wakka both gasped. Lulu looked at him in worry. "Harry, don't do something so thoughtless!"

"Go on, Priest, Summon." Harry drew his sword as he motioned the others backwards. The Priest pulled out his staff with an overconfident look on his face as he fell into the start of his well practiced summons. His expression changed to surprise and then horror as his grip over Shiva vanished from his mind. Shiva had shirked him, refusing to fight Harry. Harry chuckled and sheathed his sword. "And so she has spoken. You might have used her to fight for you all these years, Priest, but I have fought beside her for longer."

"I still could call the Maester's guards!" The Priest told him but even as he turned to do just that Harry raised his hand and it glowed a sick orange colour. The Priest glowed the same colour before turning back to Harry and nodding. "Welcome to Macalania Temple."

"A much better greeting." Harry nodded and walked passed a shocked group of guardians who looked even more worried then before. Tidus through him a half amused and half exasperated look. Harry was only digging himself in deeper.

"A confuse spell?" Lulu guessed correctly. "How do you cast so precisely without a focus?"

"Once you learn the higher spells the lower ones can be focused through your own body." Harry lectured. He didn't mention that he didn't really need a focus for the higher spells either unless he was too tired to direct them properly.

"You cant just cast spells on a temple Priest!" Wakka pointed out.

"I can and I just did." Harry told him. "Would you rather I fought him because without Shiva's help he wouldn't have lasted a minute?"

Tidus caught up to the group from where he had been distracted talking to somebody just inside the door to the temple. "Supposedly Yuna already went into the Cloister of Trials with Seymour."

The party darted up the stairs towards the Cloister only to have one of the Guado block them. Harry slipped seamlessly off the side of the platform and into the Temple's shadows so he didn't complicate the matter with his presence like he had at the entrance.

Before the Guado could deny them entrance a nun ran from the room just passed Harry with a pale look on her face. "Lord Jyscal!" She cried shocking everyone in the room. "A sphere in Lady Yuna's belongings!"

Harry slipped into the room and leaned against the wall and seconds later his group ran into the room. Kimahri blocked the door with his bulk and Harry moved to lean on it as well with a nod as the Guado outside attempted to enter to find out what was happening.

"This may explain what has been going on." Auron pointed out as Tidus retrieved the Sphere from the bed and laid it on the floor.

A miniature image of Jyscal appeared above the Sphere and began to speak. "What I am about to tell you is the unclouded truth. I swear it on my honour as a Guado. Listen to me very carefully, for I shall tell you the truth about my son, Seymour." The group eyed each other nervously. Especially Wakka. "His mind is closed even to me, a Maester of Yevon. But I can feel flames of darkness burning in his heart. He is using Yevon, the Guado, and even the Summoners. If he is not stopped, he will surely bring destruction and chaos to Spira. I will leave this world soon, killed by my own son. But I do not fault him. Because I was not wise enough, he has suffered, and become twisted. I could not protect him and his mother from the world and its cruelty. I will accept death as punishment for my deeds. But whoever is watching this... I implore you to stop Seymour! Stop my son."

"That's almost sad." Harry snorted getting a harsh look from almost everyone in the room. He just shrugged. He'd suspected that Seymour had killed his father as soon as he had heard that Yuna had been visited by the ghost of the man.

"Wonderful." Auron sighed. Harry knew what he was thinking, Yuna wanted to fight him and would fail. Even with Shiva's help a fight against Anima would be extremely hard on her own, especially since Anima had an extremely close bond to Seymour. In fact Harry suspected that the Fayth had had a close bond to Seymour.

"Will Yuna be alright?" Rikku rounded first on Auron but then realised who was best to ask and rounded on Harry.

"Probably not." Harry shrugged. "We should get through the Trials as quickly as possible to save her. If she isn't already dead."

"What!?" Wakka frowned.

"You saw didn't you?" Tidus turned on the other man. "Seymour's bad news."

"But he's a Maester!" Wakka countered.

"Rodern, Patrilus, Amoka, Severn." Harry dictated from memory.

"What?" Wakka frowned as they all looked at him in confusion.

"All Maesters tried and found guilty of murder." Harry told them. "And executed. The cases are in Yevon's records if you know where to look." He didn't tell them that he had been the one to bring there crimes into the public eye so that Yevon could hide the crimes and deal with them privately. And he didn't mention the other three that he had killed personally when the Grand Maester had ignored the crimes.

"But he's a Maester!" Wakka repeated. Harry rolled his eyes at the man's narrow mindedness.

"Fine!" Tidus snapped. "Stay here if you want."

Tidus dashed from the room and Harry followed. He knew the last two would follow eventually. He caught up with Tidus just as the boy caught up with Auron, Kimahri and Rikku at the Cloister lift that would take them down to the Cloister of Trials. Wakka and Lulu joined them moments later.

As they reached the bottom a bitter cold hit them all and Harry turned to Auron. "Tidus and I have something else to deal with first. We'll meet you in the Anti-chamber. Don't wait for us."

"You can't leave!" Lulu frowned.

"We have something else to achieve down here and it will be of assistance in this situation. It will not take us much longer than your trip through the Cloister of Trials." Harry assured them.

"But there is only one path." Lulu countered.

"Not if you know where to look." Harry told her. "Auron, go before Yuna gets herself killed."

"He's right." Auron nodded. "Be careful."

Tidus nodded at the warning as the group stepped off of the lift after Auron and headed along the long corridor that led to the Bridge room, one of the most confusing Trials in the Pilgrimage but also the shortest. All they would have to do is work out the puzzle to build an ice bridge through the room. Harry help on to Tidus as he sent a strong Firaga around the lift burning the walls away and releasing the platform from it's holdings.

Tidus cried out in shock as he felt the lift give a few inches with a grind as it lost it's grip. "What are you playing at!?" Tidus swore at Harry trying to wrench free.

Harry grinned inanely and sent another Firaga to melt the last of the ice holding up the lift. The platform gave another lurch and dropped two feet before a loud crack sounded and they began to fall. Ice rained onto them as the walls were scratched by the metal of the platform and Tidus fell to one knee for support. Harry grinned while he counted in his head and braced himself as he hit one. On zero there was another violent lurch as the shaft they were falling down narrowed slightly gripping the platform in a tight clasp. The shaft narrowed until it became unyielding rock that the metal screeched against before slowing and finally jarring to a halt.

"Well I haven't had a chance to do that in a while." Harry chuckled.

"You're insane!" Tidus rounded on him.

"Well that hurts." Harry smirked. "You live for two thousand years and try to stay sane."

"It's your fault your living so long." Tidus joked without thinking about it. Harry's expression closed off from the childish one he always used when it was just the two of them and Tidus regretted his words instantly. Harry shrugged and stepped off of the platform. Tidus followed instantly so as not to upset Harry further.

Magic throbbed through the air and the platform began to grind back up through the rock and to the ice above it. Harry turned and began walking down the stone-walled tunnel. Tidus followed and grabbed him on the bare arm gripping tightly so Harry couldn't detach him. "I'm sorry, alright."

Harry stopped and looked down at him. "Tidus, you don't know what I did to deserve this punishment and it's too bad for me to tell you. I would be happy without you ever knowing but I have the feeling you'll find out at some point and you wont be happy."

"You're still you." Tidus told him confidently.

"That's what Simon told me when I admitted to him what I'd done but he still suffered nightmares about it for months." Harry told him. "He was scared of me."

"But he isn't now." Tidus pointed out as Harry resumed walking.

"He's dead, he doesn't have to fear me anymore."

"But he didn't fear you before he died. He loved you." Tidus pointed out. The words sounded strange coming from the boy who normally spent his days joking and laughing. Harry knew Tidus was in for a shock. You could hide behind laughing and jokes anywhere beyond the Calm Lands. "I don't fear you."

"You don't know what I'm capable of." Harry pointed out.

"Destroying armies?" Tidus suggested.

"It's true that is one of my greater and more recent crimes but not my worse. I was only defending myself that time." Harry told him.

"Well I trust you." Tidus declared. "Just like Simon did. He loved you despite everything."

"Let's see how you feel when you find out the truth." Harry challenged.

"Why don't you tell me now and let me decide?" Tidus returned the challenge.

"I can't." Harry shocked himself by almost choking on the words. "It's been nice to have a friend after so long."

"Just a friend?" Tidus half chuckled nervously.

Harry rounded on him in surprise at his words, they were more shocking then anything he had heard from the boy. Damn Simon and his meddling. Tidus glanced at his feet and Harry felt a laugh bubble up in his throat. He choked it down. "We have more important things to do right now. Yuna could be in trouble."

Tidus snapped his head back up and nodded. "What do I do?"

"Prove yourself a Master with a sword." Harry told him simply.

"But I'm not a master." Tidus gasped gripping his sword nervously. Harry backed out of the cavern they had entered. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"Tidus, concentrate on what you need to do. Don't exclude anything you've learnt." Harry ordered before ice shot up in the doorway between Harry and Tidus. Harry backtracked a few metres and turned quickly down a side corridor that slowly turned around the outside of the cavern as it gained height. Soon he was twenty metres higher than he had been and above the far exit of the cavern. He walked out of a small crack in the rock and looked down at the scene already playing out below.

An ice Golem wielding the Shifting Glacier was circling Tidus holding the sword ready to parry an attack. Tidus was copying the stance about two metres away holding his own sword rather uncertainly. Tidus suddenly dashed forwards and feinted to the right before spinning on the balls of his feet and striking out at the Golem's left. The Golem fell for the feint but still blocked the strike with ease.

"His technique is impressive." A woman's voice whispered in Harry's ear and he smiled before turning to the woman beside him.

"It is good to see you again, Zara." Harry sighed.

"Why not simply take the sword and give it to him?" She asked.

"I promised I wouldn't let any person not worthy of Shifting Glacier to wield it." Harry told her. "If Tidus failed I will find him a different weapon."

"I have heard of Tidus from the others. You have told him what you are?" Zara asked.

Harry tensed. "I don't like the idea of you all talking behind my back. You are all being very secretive at the moment." Harry admonished without real passion. "I've told him of my age and curse but he does not know of my nature."

"He does not know that you are a Fayth, the most powerful Fayth?" Zara asked.

"A Waking Fayth?" Harry asked. "No. I cant do that so soon."

"It is passed time you rediscover love, Harry." Zara sighed. "He is different, more capable of living beside you. Worthy of your feelings. You would be safe with him."

"I can't die, Zara, I can be safe wherever I am." Harry told her.

"But your immortality doesn't spread to matters of the heart. Of all the Fayths you hold the largest burden, the greatest punishment. Your heart is old and it screams in pain." Zara told him. "We can all feel it as we sleep. Your Power is rising to that beat and we can all feel it."

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned.

"Your power was created at the Cataclysm through sacrifice and it destroyed the world through confusion and curiosity, it was forced in existence at Zanarkand where it sought revenge for another home destroyed. Now it seeks release again and is reaching out to the Aeons for help." Zara turned to him and her spectre almost became that of a corporeal human as she fed off of his energy to come to existence. Or more specifically she fed off of his Aeons power. "We have all refused but there is one that has tried to help it."

"Who!?" Harry whirled. Nobody on the planet knew where his power was hidden or even that it existed. Zara turned to watch Tidus battle the Golem though the boy was getting tired whereas the Golem would never tire. Harry turned to watch as he thought it over. Zara had given him a clue to the confusion of recent events and he slowly pieced it together.

"Anima told Seymour." Harry stated and Zara nodded. "That's why he wanted me captured. He thinks I am the one who keeps it hidden from the world and that's why he wants Yuna. He wants her power to add to his own to summon it."

"I only know what Anima has spoken to us of." Zara told him.

"Are you telling me that the world is going to come to another end and this time it's because my Aeon wants it to happen?" Harry rounded on her.

"Maybe this time it wont be so bad?" Zara offered.

"Oh yes, because the last two times were just lovely for the planet!" Harry rolled his eyes. "I wont let it happen again even if I have to kill them all myself."

Zara and Harry turned as they felt a strange energy below them. Myst was circling Tidus as he throbbed with white light. Harry grinned as he watched Tidus activate his Initiate Overdrive for the first time. He blurred as he streaked forwards sliding the sword across the Golem's body in a dozen places in a matter of a few seconds as the Golem vainly tried to keep up with the Myst enshrouded Tidus. Whenever the Shifting Glacier came in contact with the Myst it was like hitting a solid barrier. Ice began to fall from the Golem as it's magical life faded back into the sword which fell to the ground as Tidus sat heavily in exhaustion.

"I would be honoured for him to wield the Shifting Glacier." Zara announced and her voiced echoed around the room. Tidus looked up in surprise at his audience. Zara lowered her voice and turned back to Harry. "Lady Yuna is summoning me."

"Thank you Zara." Harry nodded and watched as she faded before jumping from the edge and down to the cavern floor. He smiled at Tidus. "You impressed her."

"It wasn't easy." Tidus gasped in air. "Was that my Initiate?"

"Yes and a very impressive one at that." Harry frowned. "You used Myst for it like I do."

"Is that strange?" Tidus asked.

"Only in the fact that I am the only one to have ever used Myst before." Harry shook his head and helped Tidus to stand. He waited for Tidus to reverently lifting the Shifting Glacier which he held tightly in a basic stance.

"It's perfect." Tidus stared at it in awe.

"Good thing too really since Yuna just summoned Shiva which means we are late." Harry told him before heading for the side wall. He melt the ice wall with a low powered fire and reached into a cubby hole to pull out a sheath of the hardest leather. He handed it to Tidus who strapped it over his back above his old sword. He sheathed the Shifting Glacier carefully and nodded to Harry.

"Let's go." Tidus stated and the two ran up the corridors that led them up to a hidden door just outside the Anti-chamber. They ran into the room and took in the scene. Two dead Guado lay to the side. Seymour stood next to the doorway to the Chamber of the Fayth. Auron, Wakka, Kimahri, Rikku, Lulu and Yuna were spread throughout the hall. Yuna stood with her staff clutched in her hands with Kimahri guarding her back. Lulu and Wakka were obviously tired but were waiting for a chance to fight. Rikku and Auron were both standing, weapons ready in front of the two tired and pale Yevonites.

The most impressive sight though was the battle taking place. Shiva was dwarfed by Anima's presence in the chamber. The new Aeon was easily thirty feet in height against Shiva's normal human stature and didn't even bother to dodge the attacks. Shiva glanced at Harry and Tidus as they entered and a smile seemed to spread across her face. The battle had lasted around five minutes and by Shiva's appearance she had been holding back for their arrival. Anima however had clearly been fighting longer and was weaker for it.

Shiva struck out and Harry boosted her immensely with a very powerful Blizzaga spell that she absorbed. She glowed a bright white under the powerful help and Harry knew it was this that she had conserved her energy for. She span forwards and fresh ice shot across the ground in all directions covering the dark white ice of the walls and floor. It spread towards Anima and spikes and towers of ice shot up from the ground and out of the walls in all directions slamming into the Aeon without relenting. The ice glowed as it held it's captive and with a scream the Aeon shuddered and burst into Pyreflies. The ice shattered like glass and Shiva stretched her arms.

"That power that defeated Anima!" Seymour staggered forwards already nearing death by the looks of it. "It will be mine!"

"I don't think so _Maester_!" Harry snarled alerting everyone to his appearance. Tidus hurried over to Lulu and Wakka to help them stand as Harry swaggered forwards. He turned to Shiva. "Kill him, Zara."

Shiva grinned at him and lashed out. Ice sprung up from the ground and impaled the Guado Maester through the chest. He cried out but went still. The ice shrunk back into the ground and Yuna dismissed Shiva from the room. Shiva bowed and vanished into a stream of Pyreflies. Harry looked down at Seymour with distaste. "It's too late." The man croaked. "I told her about it all. She knows about the Aeon. And you know where it is and now she knows you know."

"Too bad you wont be here to see it then." Harry snarled and turned and walked towards the other leaving Yuna to watch as Seymour breathed his last breath.

"_Even Tidus?"_ The voice reverberated through his head and Harry came up short. It was Zara's voice. He saw her lingering as a spectre to one side of the room.

"What?" Harry muttered before realising. She was continuing their conversation from before. He'd kill all of them to stop his Aeon from being released but would he kill Tidus.

She nodded at him sadly before starting to fade with a last warning. "_The dreamer approaches."_

Harry felt a shudder run through his body right through to his core at the words and shivered unconsciously.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	8. Sir Guardian

Bound through the Ages

A/N; I got carried away in a certain part of this chapter and wrote a proper NC-17 scene that was way beyond the M-rating allowed on ffnet. To fix this I simply removed the part that I felt took it above that rating. See the bold notes in the chapter for more information. Even so I think it'll be safer to simply say '**There is an NC-17 scene in this chapter - if you do not like slash then please skip between the bold notes and don't ask me to email you the deleted section.'**

Chapter 8; Sir Guardian

**Macalania Temple - Fayth's Antechamber**

Harry watched soberly as Zara faded from sight along with those two last bomb shells and Harry found himself far more worried about whether he would kill Tidus to prevent another Great Summoning than he was troubled by the approach of Sin. In truth he really didn't know whether he would kill Tidus or not. He felt for the young man but it was the case of these few people's lives compared to millions. Mass genocide was something unheard of in this world. Sin only killed thousands. There was no concept of the Holocaust that had killed millions in World War two. Thousands of deaths, like the defeat of Maester Zacath's army, were well known but the millions that had died when he had last been summoned had been forgotten.

He had always just brushed away the idea of having to kill Yuna, Tidus and the others, finding it less than likely that they would find out about him. It was true that Tidus had upset the normal run of things but he'd still found it unlikely that they would discover that Aeon and force Harry's hand. Now though, Seymour had told Yuna about the Aeon and Yuna was the type to want to use it.

"Harry?" Tidus spoke up from the wall where he was helping Lulu heal Wakka with a stout potion. "What do we do now?"

"There is little we _can_ do." Harry told him before turning to eye Yuna and Seymour. "Don't go getting ideas into your head, _Lady_ Yuna. He's a traitor and that's that."

"But what he told me?" Yuna straightened defiantly as if she was squaring off against an opponent. "Was that true?"

"What's she talking about?" Rikku asked.

"No matter what he said you shouldn't believe him, Yuna." Harry ignored the Al-bhed girl. "He was desperate and power hungry. Send him and lets get out of here. Sin is approaching."

"How do you know that?" Auron instantly tensed to prepare to move out.

"Shiva told him." Yuna told them all before eyeing Harry. It was another cause for concern for them all that Harry knew all of the Fayths. Though none had a clue that Harry _was_ a Fayth.

"Send him." Auron agreed with Harry.

"Lord Seymour!" Harry's sword was in his hand in an instant as he turned to face the Guado Aide, Tromell. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid you won't get many answers out of him." Harry pointed out dryly.

"It's not our fault!" Tidus headed off the accusation desperately. "He's the bad guy!"

"You did this?" Tromell rounded on Tidus even as the others looked at him in irritation that he had owned up to their crime. Harry just chuckled in amusement though he was worried. He could kill all of the ten Guado that had come with Tromell but maybe not before they killed one of the others.

"Yuna." Harry growled seeing where this could go. "Send him!"

She turned to Seymour's body and pulled out her rod. "No! Stop!" Tromell yelled and instantly four of the Guado had rushed down to Seymour's body to protect it from harm. "Stay away from him, Traitors."

"You can't brand me a traitor twice, Tromell." Harry swaggered forwards incidentally protecting Tidus and the others from any attack from the retreating Guado. He wasn't disappointed either since Tromell glared at him. He signalled sharply with his hand and two of the Guado stopped retreating just as the others were out of the door.

One raised his arms and a lightning blast ripped from where his joined hands towards Rikku just behind and to the left of Harry. Harry snapped out his left arm and the powerful Thunder spell was absorbed into his bracer. Tidus was at his side with his sword in hand and Kimahri was on his left, both ready to attack. Harry simply sheathed his sword.

He eyed Yuna off to the left of the battle as she seemed to be wondering whether to resummon Shiva. A chill went down Harry's back and he had to shut his eyes to retain his concentration over the Myst that was a part of his being. Sin was approaching and he was coming fast. Harry's eyes snapped open and with a colossal gust of wind he summoned two Death spells into being. The air seemed to be rendered as the two Guado went rigid. The air rippled as it seemed to flow into them before tearing away ripping their souls out of their bodies.

Lulu gaped at him in horror and Yuna looked outright petrified. "We don't have time for this. We pull out all the stops." Harry told them all as he walked out of the door with them close on his trail.

The others were all rather pale at his display of power and he knew why. Most people were only successful with every other Death spell cast, if it wasn't less than that. But even the best Mages known to man could never cast the spell twice in the same instant against two different targets.

The trip back through the Cloister of Trials was rather uneventful since Zara hadn't reset the Ice Bridge, probably despite Tromell's attempts to do just that. Harry got onto the lift and grinned impishly at Tidus who eyed the metal device with apprehension clear on his face. Harry spent the trip up to the surface assessing each of the group. Yuna was clearly the most shocked in the group. Not only had her Aeon just killed Seymour, on Harry's order or not didn't matter, but she'd been told by Seymour that Harry was the designated protector of an Aeon more powerful than Sin itself. What else Seymour had told her would have to wait until they were clear of the Temple and more importantly Sin. She seemed to be trying to assess what of it was true and not be spotted in her efforts to keep Harry as far away from her as possible.

Kimahri seemed to be the one to realise this and belied his loyalty to the Summoner by staying right at her side. He didn't seem to have a problem with Harry personally but he kept a watch over him regardless. It was the much the same for Auron, the old Warrior Monk, had been getting more and more suspicious of Harry especially since his casual avoidance of Guadosalam and especially since he'd revealed that he had known Cid and couldn't possibly be as young as he looked.

Rikku had been shocked by Harry's revelation that morning after meeting Brother and she seemed confused more than anything. The death of a Yevonite Maester didn't bother her like it did the others but it was clear that Harry's casual attitude in all of this was worrying her. She could go either of two ways, either she'd side with the others against Harry in a fight or she'd see Harry's powers as a way of fighting Sin without having to sacrifice Yuna.

Lulu and Wakka seemed of the same mind. They both were in shock over the murder, required or not, of a Maester and Wakka especially seemed to want to blame it solely on Harry who had spoken out against their beliefs for as long as they had known him. They were both clearly petrified about his fighting skills and his magic and they were clearly guarding Yuna from him as well as everybody else.

That brought him finally to Tidus. He was the only reason he wasn't planning on doing a runner as soon as they were clear of the Temple. Whereas he wasn't frightened by the others trying to attack him he did not need the added aggravation of having to fight Yevon and these Guardians. Tidus was clearly torn between siding with the others and letting himself fall into the mystery that was Harry. He knew that Harry was immortal and the fact he hadn't told all of the others was a good thing but it wouldn't take long before Yuna said something and Tidus blurted something out.

Tidus knew more about him than anybody beyond Simon and Harry worried about what the young man would do when they finally reached Gagazet Mountains and the source of the Sleeper's World was revealed to him. All he knew was that he couldn't get Zara's words out of his head. Would he kill Tidus as well as the others to stop them from getting to his Aeon? He felt his fingers brushing the key he always wore and noticed Tidus watching him carefully. He yanked his fingers away from the key and gave the young man a level gaze.

The lift came to a stop and Harry let the others all leave before he followed them out into the Temple where they were confronted by Tromell and a score of Guado soldiers. Harry stepped up to Tidus' side protectively without thinking about it and inadvertently joined the confrontation.

"Please!" Yuna begged looking rather desperate.

"Let us explain!" Auron ordered rather than asked.

"No need, I already know what I'll tell the other Maesters." Tromell bragged and Harry felt his eyes narrow and his fists clench. He hated people like Tromell and Seymour beyond all others. Either you told the truth or you refused to speak. He hated people who bent the truth to their own ends for power or position.

"Meaning?" Auron hissed.

"Maester Seymour was the leader of the Guado before becoming a Maester." Tromell pointed out as if it explained everything.

"You're not letting us go?" Tidus asked rather pointlessly.

"Let you go?" Tromell seemed shocked by the concept. "Maester Seymour would never forgive us if we did that."

"Wait!" Rikky grabbed Harry's arm. "Jyscal's sphere, we can show it to them!"

"You mean this?" Tromell smirked lifting the sphere from his pocket. They were rather flimsy things really and Guado were known for their strong grip. The glass dome that held the memory-video shattered and he dropped the useless contraption to the ground. "The Guado take care of Guado affairs."

"I've heard that one before." Harry pointed out as he stepped between Tromell and the others. He glanced over his shoulder at Auron and narrowed his eyes.

"Run!"

"Harry?" Tidus paused at his shoulder as Kimahri and Auron barged through the surprised Guado soldiers.

"I'll catch up." Harry smirked and sent the young man running before he pulled his sword from it's sheath and dodged through the crowd to prevent any of the Guado from giving chase. He turned back to them and with a flourish turned his left hand palm upwards and a concentrated Fira spell appeared over his hand. The doors slammed shut behind him and he smirked in satisfaction before letting the Fira loose on his enemies.

As the mainly sword to sword fight carried on he used his bracer to shield himself from the Guado's main arsenal of strikes but he knew at least three of the Guado had gotten passed him.

He took his opportunity to run when, after killing half the Guado detachment, the Temple Priest summoned Shiva to help the Guado. To the poor priest's shock however, Shiva covered Harry and sent a wave of ice shards at the Guado and then refused to be dismissed. Harry laughed his thanks before ducking out of the doors.

It took twenty minutes for him to catch up to even the Guado soldiers who had managed to slip passed him and he was annoyed that they'd managed to overtake Tidus and the others in the middle of the ice that covered the city below. The two Guado had summoned a four armed critter that normally belonged in the Gagazet mountains and while not difficult to deal with if they'd found it after more training it was keeping the whole group at bay with it's massive attacks. The fact that the two Guado soldiers were occasionally attacking by magic didn't help matters and they were being protected by Shell and Protect shields. Rather strong ones.

Harry took one look at the battle and made his move. His approach was long but the Guado had made the mistake of ignoring their backs in favour of watching the Summoner and her six Guardians. Harry slipped up to the battle and in a smooth motion he clapped his hands. His Dispel rippled away from him in every direction banishing the Shell and Protect on the two Guado soldiers and their creature. It did also take off the Immunities that Yuna had cast on everyone but that wouldn't matter for much longer.

The Guado scrambled to cast their spells again but Harry was faster. His sword sunk straight through one of the Guado from behind and the Soldier slumped forwards off of the sword. Harry hefted his sword towards the second soldier who was too busy casting a Shell shield to dodge the flying object. It sliced straight into his chest and lodged there.

The creature spun with unexpected speed and threw a punch at Harry even as Tidus and Kimahri lunged at his exposed back. Harry, knowing he couldn't dodge something that big went down onto one knee and cast his most powerful protect spell over him. The creature's fists came down over his head and his shield almost crumpled. Harry's joints groaned as the shield deflected most of the attack.

Tidus saw Harry kneel down to the ground and saw the blue spell flicker over him moments before the creature's fists smashed into it. A growl of anger ripped from his throat as he saw Harry, someone he trusted and, if he admitted it, was beginning to really like, take such a blow. He felt the blade in his hand shift without his intention and he felt like he had before when he had fought for this very blade. The feeling wasn't exactly the same though and without realising what he was doing he was feeding his magic, something he barely knew existed, with his stores of adrenaline which had been building ever since they started running from the temple.

"Tidus!" Yuna yelled at him and he realised his eyes were closed. He opened them and found her face. She was looking up at him. He was floating. His arms out to the sides and the Shifting Glacier held horizontally to one side though it barely seemed necessary for this attack.

The clouds darkened over his head and he found it hard to focus through the air around him though he could just about make out Harry's worried looking face but the man was forced to concentrate on the protect shield that was taking a beating from the creature while the others were too distracted by what Tidus was doing to come to his rescue.

In fact they were backing away. Tidus looked up at the clouds above his head expecting to see storm clouds only to see a mass of shimmering air that looked like wispy clouds. Something Harry had told him down in the Temple came to mind. Harry had said that he had used Myst to aide his attacks against the sword-creature and that it had confused Harry because he'd never met anybody, other than himself, that had used Myst in a strike. Were these clouds Myst and was he then surrounded in it?

Before he could contemplate it further the very air around him seemed to harden into a hard shield as more of the clouds over his head slide to join the Myst around him. Then without warning hundreds of pieces shattered out of the outer edge and shot towards the ground. It took Tidus a few seconds to realise what was happening but he was too late as the shots struck empty space and the ice under them all groaned under the attack. He focused everything he had on directing the attack and in a sudden heart-rendering crack the shell around him shattered and a thousand shards of this strange substance shot towards the creature.

They slammed into him and passed straight through carrying a trail of pyre flies with them as the thousands of shards shredded the creature which died almost instantly. Tidus found himself able to focus on the outside world fully once more and he fell unceremoniously to the ground.

Harry stood regally and shook his arms and legs as the ache of defending against such powerful strikes caught up with him. He eyed the clouds of rapidly dissipating Myst rather worriedly before making his way to where Tidus was kneeling on the ground with Lulu, Rikku and Yuna fussing over him.

"Things are never boring around him, you must admit." Auron spoke up from his shoulder.

"At least he decided to help me." Harry snapped with a sharp glare at the man.

"You looked fine to me and I thought I should let him learn." Auron didn't seem apologetic.

"I'll remember that the next time you're in the same situation." Harry retorted before eyeing the growing group around Tidus. He felt a shudder through his feet and looked at the ice they stood on just as he felt a lurch. "Oh crap."

"Indeed." Auron just about managed before there was a massive lurch and the slab of ice they all stood on dropped about a foot. Yuna and Rikku both screamed but there was little any of them could do. Harry could have levitated himself out with a controlled Aero spell but that would leave the others to drop the hundred feet to the ground below.

A second later his choices were severely limited as the slab shattered into a dozen pieces. Harry twisted upright as he fell and he channelled a massive blast of air up at them to slow their descent so when they hit the ice covered ground it was with a less lethal blow. Harry landed as gracefully as he could which meant hitting an iced column about four feet from the ground before rolling off and onto the ground below. Harry groaned and pushed himself to his feet.

"Is everyone ok?" He heard several groans from around him in answer. "Damnit! Answer me properly so I know who's dead!"

This got them moving and both Auron and Kimahri lurched upright. Kimahri dashed off to find Yuna while the others tried to push themselves up. "I'm alright!" Rikku declared as she pushed herself up to her knees.

"What happened?" Lulu asked as she too stood.

"Yuna's here!" Kimahri announced from where he knelt behind an icy outcropping which hide Yuna.

"Tidus and Wakka?" Harry asked.

"Let's not do that again." Wakka declared from behind him as he and Tidus came up behind Harry. Harry spun on Tidus with a worried look on his face and Tidus seemed shocked to see it there.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked.

"I'm fine, just tired but that's from whatever I did." Tidus sighed and sat on a small ledge on a small wall beside him. Harry eyed the surroundings and winced but decided not to mention where they were to anybody else especially since he could feel Sin so close. He wasn't yet there though.

"What happened?" Lulu asked for the second time.

"Tidus' attack weakened the Ice right under us." Harry informed them. "It broke, we fell."

Wakka looked up and whistled. "That's a long way."

"How are we all alive?" Lulu asked.

"It got really windy?" Harry offered with a smirk. She eyed him but nodded in understanding.

"Where are we?" Rikku asked.

"On the bed of the ice lake." Auron declared as he joined the group with Kimahri and Yuna in tow.

"Where's the lake?" Wakka asked.

"There was never a lake here." Harry spoke quietly. "The ice up there is just called that. People prefer not to know what's down here."

"And what is that?" Yuna asked with sarcasm. "Or are you going to keep that a secret too?"

"Sarcasm doesn't become you, Lady Summoner." Harry retorted without expression.

"You have some explaining to do!" Yuna demanded.

Harry mock bowed. "Of course, My Lady. Who would dream of not giving in to your childish demands? Especially when our lives hang in the balance." Harry retorted. She went red with anger.

"Yuna! Chill!" Tidus tried to step in but she ignored him.

"What _are _you?" She demanded.

"Yuna!" Lulu sounded shocked by the wording.

"No!" Yuna snapped. "I've had enough. Seymour may have been a traitor but he told me about Harry. He's older than he looks and he knows a way to defeat Sin once and for all."

"Then he lied!" Harry snapped. Tidus backed away in silence knowing that Harry was lying though he wasn't stepping in against Harry which was a good thing.

"I don't think so!" Yuna closed the distance between them and jabbed Harry in the chest. "Tell us the truth or we'll hand you over to Yevon. I'm sure they'll take our word that you were the one that killed Seymour."

"Oh, you'll hand me over?" Harry laughed before taking a step towards her pulling himself up to his full height. His eyes glowed fiercely and Yuna took a surprised step backwards and tumbled over a rock on the ground. Harry chuckled. "I'm so scared."

"Harry?" Tidus asked and he turned to look at the young man. "Go easy would you? They have a point. We barely know you and you're not exactly forthcoming."

Harry eyed him but nodded. "Are you going to tell us anything?" Lulu asked.

"No." Harry told her bluntly before closing his eyes to listened to the ever louder Hymn of the Fayth to calm him down. He opened his eyes again to find Yuna still on the ground though she seemed to not notice what was rising from the ground right next to her head. "Yuna?"

"What!?" She snapped.

"Get up slowly and don't look at the ground." Harry told her. He almost laughed as before getting up she looked around and straight into the frozen hand reaching up from the ground she lay on. She screamed and bolted up and into Tidus who caught her without thought. "I did warn you."

Suddenly everyone was looking around and their surroundings were obvious for what they were. The icy outcroppings were buildings and against them were people. Some of them seemed to have frozen in the act of running but some were going about their daily business. Tidus croaked out a weak complaint and looked at Harry who was the only one of them who hadn't moved from the very centre of the clearing in all the time they'd been down here.

"What is this!?" Wakka asked. "How many are there?"

"Ten's of thousands." Harry told him emotionlessly. "All killed in an instant. Spira's tomb-city."

"This is horrible." Tidus looked down at the sword still in his hand and sheathed it so he didn't have to look at it anymore.

"Zara." Harry whispered in pity. Yet again others knew of her crime. "Sometimes people do things they don't intend but when it's done it's done and then they have to face the punishment."

The others all looked at him trying not to look around at all the staring faces frozen in ice for over a thousand years. "Who did this?" Rikku shivered.

"The force that Yevon is so proud of." Harry mocked. "The Fayths all committed a crime like this. A crime beyond human ability to punish."

"Shiva?" Yuna stared up at the Temple in silence where it hung over their heads in the distance.

Harry snapped up his head to look but only because in that instant he realised that the Hymn had stopped. "We're out of time." Harry hissed. A flicker of movement rippled from the edge of his vision and Harry looked over into the distance to see what he had thought was a continuation of the city moved. If he had thought about it he would have realised that that was where the City's docks had been. Now Sin stood there.

"Sin!" Auron cried as he spotted the same thing.

"It's too late." Harry told them as he felt the air change ever so slowly. They wouldn't get a few metres before the Toxin struck them. He watched Rikku, Auron and Kimahri collapse as the Toxin knocked them unconscious and felt the Myst erupting from his skin in an attempt to fight it. He felt the rising power flowing through him just as Wakka, Lulu, Yuna and finally Tidus collapsed at his feet.

He felt a presence against his mind and he reached out with a sense of recognition before his own eyes blurred. His powers reached out to block it again and Harry knew everyone around him would die at the Myst's attempts to summon his Aeon from within if he didn't do something. A low grumble shook the city as Sin recognised what was happening and prepared to attack him, presumably to stop him from killing Tidus. Harry did the only thing he could think of at the time. He summoned a Death spell and turned it inward.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Bikanel Island**

The first thing Harry realised was that he was lying face down on hot ground. As he regained control of his body he shot up. He hated doing that, killing himself with a Death spell. It was one of the first things he had tried to do to get out of this unending punishment but he'd simply woken up sore and tired afterwards. He'd used it twice since then, once to escape a prison cell almost eight hundred years ago and then in the same manner he had just done about five hundred years ago.

He was normally quite good at avoiding Sin but he couldn't always avoid the great beast and the only way to stop the Myst from killing those around him was to kill himself. He looked around at the endless sand that spread in all directions but couldn't make out which direction to go in at this time of day. He settled down on his haunches glad that he didn't need water or food like most caught out here.

Obviously Sin had brought him to Bikanel Island since that was the only place in Spira with this type of sand. Fine white-yellow sand that moved like a great sea. The only things out here which were permanent were the few lakes of warm water, the navigational markers that he Al-bhed had placed and of course Home. The city of the Al-bhed which Harry had helped Cid to create almost thirty years ago.

Harry studied the horizon for the distinct signs of life. He'd lived out here for a hundred of so years when he decided he wanted nothing to do with the world. That had been before Sin had been created and he'd only left when people had migrated here and built a city which had then been destroyed in the wars between Bevelle and Zanarkand.

Basically he knew everything there was to know about navigating through a Desert. The first thing was working out which way was North which was a little harder to do since it was noon and Bikanel was on the equator. He'd have to wait a while and see which way the sun went. After that it was finding one of the Navigational markers that the Al-bhed had placed as stoic landmarks within the moving sea of sand. They all had directions on them but you had to know the pattern in order to use them to find Home. They did point the way to the nearest shelter or Oasis though for anybody.

Finally the sun had moved enough towards what he know knew was the western horizon for him to work out which way was North and hence the general direction to Home and he started out. Bikanel wasn't an uninhabited place when it came to fiends but most of the creatures that would have attacked travellers saw him as the powerful predator he was and only a couple of times did he have to call magic into existence to kill a few Fiends.

He was rather grateful when he caught the slight change in heat haze that marked the presence of a Navigational marker and he made his way towards it. The sign had three signs on it. Two of the signs pointed out to the East with the Al-bhed for water and shelter on them but the last sign pointed to all four cardinal marks. Each was faded but still held the four colours. He found the code cipher on the base of the pole and since it was a small picture of a bird he looked out to the North East, between the red and green cardinal signs. That was where Home was.

He knew that, and any Al-bhed would know that, but that didn't mean the others would. He had no doubt that Sin had brought the others here as well and only Rikku would know the way to Home. He decided to go East, to the shelter and Oasis. Tidus had learnt enough Al-bhed in secret from Rikku in the last week or so to have a crude understanding of the words and would probably have gone to the Oasis. Also there was very little wind at the moment so he could find their tracks if he was lucky. Plus it wouldn't be a bad thing if he got some water in his dry throat. Like he'd said before, he hated casting the Death spell on himself.

It was almost three hours later when he came across promising tracks. Actually they were only promising up to a point. Somebody had lain in the sand and then gotten up and begun walking into the East. He followed the tracks until they were intercepted by tyre tracks. Or more specifically, caterpillar tracks. A Dune buggy. The buggy had stopped and the foot prints had joined them before the buggy had left for the North East. He studied the prints carefully. Common placed sandals, well worn by travel, but light. Rikku and Tidus both wore completely different shoes. Kimahri only wore very basic sandals and Auron and himself wore boots. That left Wakka, Lulu and Yuna, assuming the tracks weren't just coincidental. Wakka was too heavy for these tracks so that left Lulu and Yuna.

Either way they were safe with the Al-bhed for the time being and the others possibly weren't that safe. He continued to the East following his original plan and it was another couple of hours before he stumbled across the rest of the group. He found the shelter the sign had pointed to along with another sign. Somebody had rested here for quite a while until three had joined them from the East and the four had left towards the North which was where the sign pointed to Home. Rikku's prints weren't here so he wasn't convinced that they knew where they were going so he took off after them after drinking from the well dug under the shelter. He vaguely wondered whether to put out for the Oasis but figured that he could always check it out if the group weren't all together.

It wasn't a ten minute jog along the tracks before they intercepted two other sets of tracks. One was Rikku's and the other was Kimahri's. That meant that the rest of the group was together. Auron, Tidus and Wakka were definitely in the first group with Rikku and Kimahri now with them. The only question was whether it was Lulu or Yuna with them.

Obviously Rikku had yet to find a Navigational marker though since she had led the group out into the North West. Until she stumbled on a marker she wouldn't be able to adjust her course, she was guessing that they were somewhere in the centre of the Island and since Home was on the Northwest corner that was her best bet. The problem was that they were already directly south of Home and she was leading them out into the desert.

Harry took off after them but it was still another two hours before he caught up with them and it was starting to get rather dim. They wouldn't be able to reach Home until tomorrow. It would get too dangerous to walk at night time. They were pausing in their walking to discuss where to stay for the night and Harry smiled as he crested the top of a dune and looked down at them. He was about to call out to them when a twitch of movement caught his eye.

The Dune to their right moved even without wind and Harry saw a trace of a fin sliding through it. A Sand Worm. "Rikku!" He shouted before switching to Al-bhed. "**On your right, a Sand Worm!"**

"Run!" Rikku yelled and tugged Tidus up the dune Harry stood on just as the Sand Worm lunged out of the dune, showering them with sand. Wakka chucked his blitzball weapon at it's head but it barely even made the thing twitch. There was really only one way to deal with these. Harry slashed his hands forwards as Tidus and Rikku collapsed onto the sand at his sides. A horrible musty smell spread through the area before completely vanishing. The worm groaned in pain before slouching onto it's side as Harry's Bio spell worked.

The poison wouldn't last long and unless they stuck around to finish it off it would recover over time but it wouldn't bother anything for the next few days. "Where have you been?" Tidus asked rather rudely though there was affection in his eyes as he looked up at Harry.

"I woke up at about noon off in that general direction. Tracked East to the shelter you guys met at." Harry shrugged. "I've been following you for two hours."

"Have you seen Yuna?" Lulu asked answering Harry's question about who it was that the Al-bhed had picked up.

"I found her tracks about four hours ago. She was picked up by a Sand Buggy and taken North." Harry told them.

"She's at Home!" Rikku punched the air happily.

"Shame you're heading in the wrong direction." Harry told her.

"I couldn't find a marker!" Rikku complained.

"We need to track back to the shelter you met at." Harry told them. "We won't get far tonight."

"We have to hurry." Wakka demanded. "We can't leave Yuna alone with those heathens."

"Wakka." Lulu warned.

"You're welcome to try on your own. It's that way." Harry pointed just East of North. "Have fun."

Harry smirked as Wakka went slightly pale at the idea of walking around a desert on his own. "It'll be dark soon." Auron spoke up for the first time.

"Keen observation." Harry chuckled. It didn't take them long to backtrack to the shelter and even as it got dark they could follow their own tracks. Even so it was an exhausted group that collapsed into the shelter. Harry was tired beyond the others and he collapsed against the wall.

"You're exhausted." Tidus sat next to him letting the others clear the sand out of the shelter and sort out food.

"I have a bad reaction against Sin." Harry told him the truth. "I cast a Death spell on myself so I didn't react. Then I woke up at noon and I've been walking without much to drink since then."

Tidus gave him a sad look. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine." He flopped sideways onto the floor and lay on his side knowing that they'd be cramped for room as it was.

Tidus stood and met the others while Harry dropped into sleep. "What's up with him?" Wakka asked.

"He's been walking all day and he's tired." Harry heard Tidus tell them.

"Can we trust him?" Harry had to strain to hear Lulu's voice but they obviously thought he was already asleep. He shut his eyes to lead them on in that belief.

"I don't know." Auron muttered. "He's always been a bit of a risk but we need his skills at the moment and I'm not sure if we can defeat him in a fight or not."

"Well I think we can trust him." Tidus told him. "I'm not going to abandon him just because you think he's keeping secrets!"

"That's just because you're attracted to him." Rikku blurted out rather louder than she meant to. There was a pause, probably as they all watched Harry to see if he'd heard her.

"And what if I am?" Tidus retorted. Harry couldn't help but grin a bit at those words. "You don't trust me to realise a threat just because I like him?"

"It's not that we don't trust your judgement, Tidus." Lulu argued. "It's just we know so little about him and you're new to this world."

"I think we're all new to this world compared to him." Auron pointed out. Harry lost his slight grin. There was no hiding it now, they definitely knew he was older than he looked.

"That doesn't change who he is." Tidus argued.

"We're all tired and as Auron pointed out there isn't much we can do at the moment anyway. He's too powerful." Lulu told them.

"Powerful or not, if you all gang up on him I'm siding with him." Tidus stated angrily.

"I'm not sure if I'd go against him. He did help my father unite the Al-bhed after all." Rikku was obviously leaning towards Tidus' view in this argument.

"Let's just sleep." Lulu said. There was movement as everybody headed towards Harry and lay down around the shelter. "Tidus, just be careful. He'd not what he seems."

"I know he isn't but I still like him." Tidus told her sincerely and Harry felt himself grin again. Harry was about to fall asleep when he felt somebody lie next to him. He opened his eyes to see Lulu guarding the entrance while Tidus was lying staring at the ceiling above them. Harry reached out a hand even as he shut his eyes again. He felt Tidus' hand and grabbed it in his own. Tidus jerked and Harry opened his eyes a little to look at him. "You were awake the whole time?"

Harry smirked and nodded. Tidus squeezed his hand and Harry's smirk turned into a smile. "Thanks." He told the young man gently so the others wouldn't hear.

Tidus smiled back and in a smooth motion turned away from Harry, keeping hold of his hand so it circled his waist as he scooted backwards so his back was to Harry's chest. Harry kissed Tidus lightly on the exposed back of his neck before falling asleep.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next morning**

Harry, as always, woke first and he couldn't help feeling pleased with the fact that Tidus was snuggled up against him just like when they had fallen asleep. Harry was surrounded in people that didn't trust him and people were starting to discover his Aeon. Despite all of that he felt warm and happy. Normally he would have risen and relieved whoever was on watch but instead he stayed where he was knowing that any attempt at getting up would wake the young man and he had been put through so much recently that Harry didn't want to strain him.

It wasn't for another half an hour before Tidus slowly came awake. He tensed as he felt Harry behind him before relaxing and unconsciously wriggled back into him. "Morning."

"Last time I woke up like this I'd spent the night drinking." Tidus shuddered slightly. "God, the world's changed."

"Tell me about it." Harry chuckled feeling a jealous pang at the mention of one of Tidus' past lovers. "Come on, I need to get up. I'm stiff from the magic yesterday."

"Just from the magic yesterday?" Tidus smirked over at him. Harry rolled his eyes at him before pausing. He found himself staring into Tidus' mirth filled eyes and was about to lean over and kiss him when he remembered where they were. He saw a brief flash of disappointment in Tidus' eyes as he pulled back and moved to get up. Tidus followed him out of the shelter where they found Rikku studying the brightening desert around them.

"Go get another hour sleep, Rikku." Harry told her as she turned to look at them. She looked between the two of them before a smirk spread across her face. Harry stared her down and she laughed.

"I'll give you some privacy." She chuckled at Tidus' blushing face.

"You do that." Harry snapped. She ducked into the shelter with one last amused look.

"I swear you don't ever care what people think of you." Tidus shook his head derisively before flopping down onto the top of the rock that the shelter was built into the lee of. Harry climbed up behind him to look around them.

"Not really. It's never mattered to me before. People can only hate me as long as their alive." Harry pointed out.

"What about me? Do you care what I think?" Tidus asked.

"I think so." Harry said after sitting himself down next to him.

"You _think_ so?" Tidus spluttered.

"It's been a while since I've tried to think of anyone that way." Harry pointed out.

"I think I get it." Tidus told him. "I don't really understand how somebody could not want people to care about them but I'm not two thousand years old."

They sat in silence for a time before Tidus lay back onto the stone. "Harry?"

"Tidus?" Harry responded instantly.

"I know I'm not Simon." Tidus paused. "But I'd like to try this."

Harry eyed him for a moment before sighing. "Are you sure?"

"I know I'm new to this world and everything but who better to keep an eye on me than somebody with your experience?" Tidus gave him a small smile. "I've never felt attracted to somebody like I do with you and even after everything you've told me that hasn't changed."

Harry paused and lay down next to the young man. He closed his eyes and sighed wondering what Simon would tell him. Really he didn't need to wonder since Simon had already told him he should go for it. "I'd like that." He said eventually. He opened his eyes as he felt Tidus shoot up into a sitting position and looked at him in amusement.

"Really?" Tidus asked.

"Really." Harry laughed before lifting an arm in invitation. Tidus grinned happily and in one smooth motion he was straddling Harry's stomach as he leaned down to catch Harry's lips in a passionate kiss that banished any remaining doubt on Harry's part.

Harry didn't know how long they kissed nor how long they simply sat together afterwards but as the sun came up Tidus lifted his head from his chest to talk. "You've been here before then?"

"I helped build Home." Harry told him with a small chuckle.

"Rikku said you knew her father." Tidus warned him. "She said he told her about a man who helped him to unite all the factions. She said he was called Harry and saved her father's life quite a few times."

"More times than I can count." Harry chuckled. "He's a rather reckless man. Happy to jump into the grinder without warning."

"The grinder?" Tidus frowned.

"Never mind." Harry smiled in amusement. "I met him passing through Macalania Forest after he'd been badly poisoned. I took him to Macalania Temple and watched over him until he had recovered. He didn't speak a word of English at the time so was rather glad to find somebody he could talk to."

"English?" Tidus frowned. "What's that?"

Harry actually laughed then and had to sit up to breathe properly. "You're speaking it!"

"What?" Tidus frowned. "This is Common." He seemed to struggle over the words.

"But it started as English." Harry explained. "One of the oldest of the countries on Earth was called England. They created the language and by the time of the Great Cataclysm almost eighty percent of the world spoke it. They renamed it Common after that as it was among the only languages people knew."

"Oh." Tidus smiled slightly. "What happened then?"

"We travelled together for a while." Harry continued his story. "It was fun to travel through Spira with somebody that didn't really like Yevon. It was refreshing. He told me about his dream of uniting the Al-bhed and creating a home for them. Of course I knew where most of the factions lived or roamed so I offered my help. We sought them all out and I showed them to this place."

"So you've been here before that?" Tidus asked.

"I lived as a hermit on this island for the better part of two hundred years." Harry sighed. "That was before I moved to Zanarkand. People knew what I was back then."

"What you were?" Tidus asked.

"Another time, Tidus." Harry was saved from further argument as Wakka and Lulu emerged from below them with a snickering Rikku in tow.

"Are you two love birds ready to go?" Rikku asked.

Harry pulled himself up and in one smooth motion vaulted off of the top of the shelter. Tidus followed him with a blush on his face. "Yes." Harry told the small girl bluntly. "And keep that mouth of yours shut or I'll tell your father on you."

She blanched and Tidus chuckled. Wakka and Lulu gave him suspicious looks but Harry ignored them. He didn't care what they knew as truth or speculation. They could be confused for all he cared.

Tidus stood close at his side and trailed his hand across his back. Harry turned to look at him with a smile and got one in return.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The trek into the North took them well passed noon and it was almost half way through the afternoon before Harry saw the first signs of the rocky mountains that shielded Home from the strong Easterly winds that moved the sand. He stopped as he heard a very quiet screech and motioned for silence.

For once nobody argued and in the silence they heard the distinct sound of far off explosions. "No!" Rikku cried as she dashed forwards up the slope. Harry took off after them and they all crested the ridge together. Home was a very industrial city with a ring of towers surrounding a larger central crane that could access all parts of the city's surface. Most of the city was actually underground.

Harry hissed as even as they watched the main crane crumpled and tipped off of the central tower and down onto the docks and yards below. Creatures flew around the city and they could hear howling from below. Rikku took off down the slope without a second thought and Tidus dashed after her.

"Wakka!" Harry spun on the man before anybody else could follow them. "Al-bhed or not these people need our help. Can you do that objectively or should I string you up and leave you here?"

Wakka glared at him but nodded. "Yuna's down there." Lulu pointed out.

"Let's go." Harry snapped and turned to sprint after the two younger Guardians. It took fifteen minutes of running to get to the city entrance and what they saw was complete devastation. Creatures littered the area as well as Al-bhed and not five metres from them Rikku knelt crying over a body. Harry walked up to her and glanced briefly at Tidus who was guarding her. Harry looked at the man and recognised him from about fifteen years ago though his features had massively changed since then. It was one of Cid's sons, Rikku's brother.

"It's the Guado." Tidus told him. Harry looked up with furious eyes just as two birds flew overhead. He went to bring up his hands to destroy them but Auron stopped him.

"We find Yuna first. Then you can attract attention all you like." Auron ordered. Harry glared at him but let his hands drop to the sides.

"A war?" Lulu frowned. "Between the Yevon and the Al-bhed."

"**That is wrong!"** A voice spoke up from the main doorway and Harry looked up to see and older Cid followed by three or four others. "**The Guado go for the Summoners."**

"**Father!"** Rikku stood up shakily. Cid stopped over his son's body and sighed before looking at Rikku and then at the others before his eyes settled on Harry who smirked at him.

"Cid." Harry greeted. "**You've done it again. Maybe next time you plan something like this and bring Yevon down on your head, you'll warn me so I can help."**

Cid, despite everything, laughed and grasped Harry into a welcoming hug. "**Oh, how I've missed that sarcasm. Harry, my old friend, you haven't aged a day."**

"**So, I've noticed, but we can discuss that at a later time." **Harry told him before gesturing at the others.

"You Rikku and Harry's friends?" Cid asked before turning to the doors. "Well, don't just stand there. Let's go kick these Guado out of our Home!"

Harry caught up to the man before he could run off. "**Home is lost is it not." **Cid sighed and nodded. "**What then is your plan?"**

"**We found an Airship."**

"**I heard."** Harry told him dryly.

"**It's working. Find the Summoners then get to the air dock."** Cid told him. "**Rikku knows the way."**

Harry nodded and lead the others through the door and deeper into the facility. "Rikku, lead the way." Harry told her.

"Where are we going?" Tidus asked him.

"To where the Al-bhed have been keeping the Summoners." Harry told him as they ran down a corridor.

"Why were they kidnapping them?" Tidus asked.

"Later, Tidus." Harry told him. "Focus on fighting for the time being."

As if to prove his words and wolf jumped around the corridor. Harry rolled forwards to dodge it's claws and was yet again impressed by Tidus' speed as his sword killed it instantly.

Harry kicked it out of the way before noticing it's owner standing at the end of the hall. Kimahri evidently saw him too as he dashed forwards swinging his halberd violently in an upper cut that would cleave an elephant in two. If there were such things anymore.

The Guado gaped down at his chest and the perturbing weapon in surprise before he slumped dead to the ground. Rikku edged around him trying to stay as far from him as possible but Harry simply stepped over him and continued down the corridors heading deeper into the complex. Tidus caught up to him and Harry smiled gently at him though only to cover the worry he had that Tidus was about to discover something about the Pilgrimage that he wouldn't like. Over the whole of the trip the others had been avoiding the topic of Yuna's sacrifice. Harry didn't want to be the one to tell him but it was harsh that the others hadn't. Harry had already told Tidus so much and he'd probably be the one to tell him about the Sleeper's World and he didn't particularly want to be the one to tell him about this as well.

They ran across another three teams of Guado soldiers and their summoned troops but even Harry alone could have dealt with them easily let alone with seven Guardians with a very diverse set of attacks. Regardless of the rush Harry took the time to lecture Lulu in a new spell.

"The spell you used against the Guado in the Temple." Lulu asked him coming up on his left as he and Tidus followed Kimahri and Rikku down through the levels. "It was the Death Spell was it not."

"It was." Harry told her bluntly.

"I've never seen it cast before." Lulu told him.

"It's a hard spell to cast. One of the worst." Harry agreed knowing she, as a Mage, would already know this.

"Worst?" Tidus asked since he didn't have the basic magical training. "Don't you mean hardest?"

"It is a pretty hard spell but no harder than the high-level elemental spells like Firaga or Waterga." Harry told him.

"It is the intention that is the problem." Lulu told him. "You have to want the person you fight to be dead for it to work."

"I don't understand." Tidus frowned. "What's wrong with that?"

"Tidus, you see a Guado and you kill him." Harry said before looking at him. "Why?"

"What do you mean?" Tidus frowned. "Because we have to."

"But why do you have to?" Harry asked.

"Because he'd kill us." Tidus told him.

"Precisely." Harry nodded. "You kill him to protect yourself or others."

"Not because you want him dead." Lulu finished off. "You have to want the person to die. Of course it's easier against Fiends. Very few people can cast it against another person."

"Even I have trouble casting it against a person if I focus on them. I tend to picture a Fiend. Of course I have plenty of experience with people that I wanted dead to be able to use that." Harry told him.

"So that makes it hard." Tidus stated. "But you said worst."

"Sharp." Harry complimented. "It's addictive, more dark magic than just simply black. It feeds off of your emotions but it also pushes you to use it again. The more you use it the stronger that compulsion becomes. With most it is only a lingering affect of triumph and victory over your dead enemy that will fade in a matter of hours or even minutes but with some it has been known to turn them into murderous villains."

"Is there any way to block it?" Tidus asked.

"If the enemy casts it on you successfully then no. But the spell depend on many things to work." Harry half turned to Lulu to teach her to use it. "You have to want the enemy dead more than they want to live which is hard to do but it's basically a battle of wills. It's easier to cast on Fiends because they have a much simpler idea of survival. People have loved ones, families and so on to strengthen their desire to survive."

"Can you dodge it?" Tidus asked.

"Not once it's cast but it's quite hard to cast it against a moving target since you have to picture the target and direct the spell." Harry told him. "A shell shield doesn't help but a reflect spell takes more to overcome. Obviously it isn't reflected since no person wants them selves to die."

Harry came to a stop as they entered an intersection of tunnels. Rikku and Kimahri had stopped to confront multiple enemies from different entrances. "Watch what I do and try it, Lulu." Harry ordered before snapping his hand up towards one of the Guado hiding behind the enemy. Harry went slowly and the Guado realised what was happening as the air began to ripple around him. His friend sent a spell at Harry which Harry shocked them both by being able to reflect it back with a shield and maintain his concentration. He slowly brought his will to bare and the Guado's eyes widened as his own desire to survive was completely overwhelmed. He collapsed into a heap as his body allowed the flow of magically charged air to ripe out his soul. "Try it on one of the creatures." Harry told her before letting the fight carry on around him as Lulu focused all of her magic on the Chimera that was still being controlled by the remaining Guado on their side.

Since Lulu and Harry were their major magical defence Harry had to defend the rest of the part from the magical attacks that they couldn't defeat themselves and he killed a Fire Bomb and a Flan with well placed elemental strikes just as Lulu misdirected her spell and it vanished into the air. Harry eyed the magical flows he felt from her before nodding.

"Good for a first time. You just lost your desire to kill it." Harry told her. He let her try again but after failing again she sagged slightly. It took a lot out of you. Harry, who could cast even the Ultima spell without a focus barely even noticed it unless he was out of practice but Lulu still used a small focus in the form of a cactus doll and the Death spell required more unfocused energy than most others.

Harry stepped forwards with his blade in hand and in three strokes he killed the Chimera in the physical way before Tidus slipped around him in the confusion and killed the last Guado from the side while he was trying to bring up a defence against Harry who had obviously petrified the poor Guado with his casual use of magic.

It was only a two minute walk to the Summoners Sanctum from that battle but the group stopped outside of it. "Rikku?" Lulu paused. "What is the Summoners Sanctum?"

"The Summoners Sanctum is where we keep the Summoners. We keep them safe there." Rikku told them quietly.

"You kidnapped them!" Wakka accused.

"I know it's against the teachings and all…" Rikku trailed off.

"I get why you did it, but…" Wakka told her but was interrupted as Tidus grasped onto that comment. He evidently wasn't going to be left out again.

"Well, I sure don't get it, Wakka." Tidus glared. "They might get hurt on their pilgrimage so you kidnap them? I mean, if the Summoners don't do their job, then who will beat Sin? You want to protect them, I know. But guardians are there for that. If guardians do their job well, Summoners will be safe! Right? Right?"

Harry stared hard at Tidus as the others avoided his gaze. His eyes promised answers but also told Tidus to wait for all to be explained. He stepped forwards as the others watched. "It's Yuna's place to explain not ours."

"But what if she won't tell me?" Tidus asked.

"Then I will but she must make that decision." Harry told him. "She should be through there."

Harry led Tidus through into the Summoners Sanctum but the sight inside even made Harry wince. There were dead Fiends rapidly decaying everywhere but amongst the bodies were at least a score of Al-bhed and Guado. The Al-bhed had been out fought but had obviously fought fiercely to protect the Summoners. Harry glanced over the surviving occupants of the room. He recognised them all. Dona was kneeling beside one of the Al-bhed guards laying him more peacefully while Isaaru was putting away his Summoner's staff with a final air. He'd obviously been the one to finish the fighting. His two brothers stood nearby.

"Yuna!" Kimahri yelled into the room regardless of the obvious fact she wasn't there.

Dona looked up at them quickly having obviously not noticed them before hand. She scrambled to her feet as she saw Harry and drew her Summoning Staff. Harry narrowed his eyes but instead of trying to summon against him like he, and evidently Tidus, believed she swirled it down to the floor in salute before bowing to him.

Harry hadn't been saluted like that since he had used the name Simon Kem. Only a Guardian who had completely the pilgrimage more than five times could be saluted that way. That meant only eight people known in history including both the actual Simon Kem and Harry on his own. He touched Tidus on the shoulder and guided him to the side.

"Sir Guardian!" Isaaru was suddenly beside Dona and saluted and bowed in the same way. Lulu, Wakka and even Auron gasped in shock and Rikku and Kimahri were surprised.

"What do you mean by this?" Harry demanded.

"They have spoken to us. Warned us of what is coming. You who knew Simon Kem have but to ask anything from us." Harry flinched at Dona's words.

"Bloody Fayths!" Harry cursed. They'd obviously decided to act. They would all know what Seymour had told Yuna and had obviously decided that his team needed to know the truth. Or at least that was what Harry guessed. The Fayths had been known to tell the Summoner he guarded about him on occasion. He straightened up and bowed to the both of them as was expected.

"Sir Guardian?" Tidus frowned.

"It is a title almost equal to that of High Summoner." Lulu explained without taking her eyes off of Harry.

"Like Auron?" Tidus asked. "He's Sir right?"

"You are a Guardian," Isaaru told Tidus. "If you complete the pilgrimage and protect your Summoner you will become a Sir but only if you complete the Pilgrimage another four times can you take the term Sir Guardian."

"The Summoner doesn't have to succeed in the final battle." Lulu sighed.

"Simon Kem?" Auron asked in horror. His idols name was being used in front of him and he obviously didn't know what to think. To find out that Harry knew Simon Kem obviously troubled his opinion some.

Tidus glanced at Harry but Harry just eyed the two Summoners with narrowed eyes. "Do we not have better things to do then fall to the whims of over excited Fayths?"

Dona and Isaaru looked around them at the numerous bodies and nodded at him. "Please wait here while we perform the Sending." Dona requested before the two Summoners headed off in different directions.

"We need to talk." Auron told Harry and he looked so confused that Harry almost pitied him. Everybody was staring at him, even Tidus though his stare was one of concern that Harry's secrets were spilling out without Harry's control.

"We have more important things at the moment." Harry snapped. "Once this is over we can sit around and share stories at our leisure. Or perhaps you have all forgotten about your Summoner?"

This seemed to spur them into activity as they split apart to search through the bodies for signs of what had happened. Harry stared up at the ceiling for a moment as he seethed. What the hell did the Fayths think they were doing? What were his ancient friends doing to him?

He growled and in a sudden jerk he sent a spike of basic lightning at the ceiling. The rooms occupants stared at him in shock for a moment but he glared them all down in a wide gaze around the room. They turned their attention away from him and Harry proceeded to take his anger out on the nearest dead Fiend. He kicked it rather solidly in the head. This was all Seymour's fault. If he hadn't gotten himself killed then they wouldn't have this problem.

A hand grabbed his own and Harry jumped around in shock to find himself facing Tidus. "Are you ok?" The young man asked him.

Harry sighed and nodded slightly. "The Fayth obviously decided that my secrets aren't my own."

"Why did they do that?" Tidus frowned.

"Because of whatever Seymour told Yuna probably. The Fayths know everything that their Summoners do and told these two obviously to stop people from attacking me if they believe Seymour over me." Harry sighed. "They're rarely wrong in these things but it's irritating."

Tidus ran his thumb over the back of Harry's hand but Harry was prevented from responding in any way when the little boy, Pacce, appeared at Tidus' elbow. Tidus turned to look down at him. "Hey, what's sacrificed?" He asked making Harry wince. "The Al-bhed said Summoners were being sacrificed. That Summoners shouldn't have to do a pilgrimage."

"Why couldn't they trust us to protect them?" Tidus looked at Harry without answering Pacce's question. He looked desperate and on the verge of betrayal. "What right did they have?"

"The Pilgrimages have to stop!" Rikku yelled and suddenly she was standing not five metres from them staring at all of the dead Al-bhed around her. "If they don't, and they get to Zanarkand they might defeat Sin. Yunie could...but then she... Yunie will die, you know? You know, don't you?"

Tidus blanched violently and his hand shot out of Harry's. Rikku was in no fit state to continue so Harry drew in his breath to explain. "The Final Aeon can defeat Sin but it comes at a price." Harry said quietly though his voice sounded everywhere in the room. "The Summoner's life. Yuna could defeat Sin but in the process she will die."

"Was I the only one that didn't know?" Tidus glared at Harry. "Tell me why! Why were you hiding it?"

"I wasn't." Harry told him. "It was Yuna's task to tell you and nobody else could take that from her. She wanted somebody to believe in a future for her."

"Why didn't _you_ tell me?" Tidus rounded on Lulu angrily, barely hearing Harry's logic.

"We weren't hiding it." Wakka sighed.

"It was just too hard to say." Lulu sighed.

"Lulu! How could you?" Tidus gasped out. "How could you? Isn't she like a sister to you? I thought you were family! Why don't you do something, Wakka."

"Tidus!" Harry shouted and grabbed his shoulder. "Don't put this on them. They both tried to talk her out of it but it's her decision not theirs."

"Yuna knew what she was doing when she chose to battle Sin." Wakka pleaded with the young man. "She knew."

"But Wakka! That's just totally wrong." Rikku argued. "Summoners shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves just so the rest of Spira can be happy."

"But that is our choice." Isaaru spoke up and the two Summoners joined them quietly. "A world without Sin. That is the dream of all Spira's children. And we will use our power, even if it means our lives."

Out of the Pyreflies rising from around them Harry saw Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion and Shiva appear around them. He eyed them distastefully and they avoiding his gaze. Tidus saw Valefor and launched himself at her. Wakka flinched to stop him but was too slow. It didn't really matter though since the Aeon barely even moved as Tidus punched her in the chest.

"And I've been telling Yuna 'Let's go to Zanarkand together! Let's beat Sin!'" Tidus cried. "I told her all the things we could...we could... And all along, the whole time, I didn't know anything! But Yuna, she'd...just smile."

Valefor lowered her neck to try to soothe Tidus but Tidus ripped himself away. Hermione gazed at Harry with sad eyes before she and the others faded as they dismissed themselves. "I can't let her die!" Tidus turned on Harry with crazed eyes. "You know a way."

"No!" Harry snapped and Tidus recoiled. "There is no other way, Tidus. That goes for you too, Rikku. Not once in a thousand years has anybody managed to even dent Sin without the Final Summoning. There is no other option. Don't you think I've tried, Tidus? Do you really think I would have taken so many Summoners to Zanarkand if there was another way?"

Tidus was looking at him in shock and everybody had moved away from him. Harry shuttered his eyes before turning to the rear door of the Sanctum. He didn't wait to see if they were following him as he swept from the room. He really couldn't care what they all knew of him. It was getting so complicated as it was. Admitting to some of it wasn't going to hurt that much though he found himself wishing he hadn't snapped at Tidus so much. The young man was in pain already without thinking Harry was angry at him.

The group, now including a silent Dona, Isaaru, Muroda and Pacce, moved quickly through the deserted halls that led to the Airship dock though Rikku was leading them rather than Harry since it was a new inclusion to Home's blueprints. The ship design more than the ship itself was familiar to Harry. It's short stubby look showed it as more of a ship designed for parade than war. In fact this model hadn't been used in that fateful battle between Bevelle and Zanarkand where the Summoners had taken that last, disastrous, step. They had been withdrawn from the military and used as a last stop against invasion and evidently this one had been sent to guard his core energies.

It's discovery marked the closest anybody had ever come to discovering the location of his Aeon self. He boarded without preamble and effortlessly twisted through the corridors to reach the control deck. He didn't get too many odd looks from the others since he was following Rikku but he also found that he didn't really care what they knew now. As long as they didn't discover that he was actually a Fayth then he didn't care.

The control deck was as he remembered it and only the odd sign of weathering showed through the work that the Al-bhed had obviously put into the ship in the last few months since this had all started. A high central area was backed by two semi-circular banks of monitors and benches while in the centre was a combat-control hologram that he doubted the Al-bhed really knew how to use. In front of the central area were three walkways. The central, and higher, of the three led to the pilots chair while the two side ones led down slightly and controlled weapons and navigation.

"Are you ready to get this thing moving Cid or should I get out and push?" Harry snapped making the older looking man jump around to see the new arrivals though Dona, Isaaru, Muroda and Pacce had stopped out in the corridors to do what they could for the injured.

"Alright, alright." Cid grouched. "We're doing it."

"Good, I don't fancy having to watch this." Harry told the man seeing the pain in Cid eyes that was probably reflected in his own. "I'm going to find myself a cabin."

With that Harry walked out of the room. Even if he said he wasn't going to watch he found a Cabin with windows to the outside and watched out of them as Cid launched a full battery of missiles out across the rapidly passing desert. An explosion rocked the horizon and evidently triggered something under Home since the following explosion always managed to catch up to them. Harry stared out until the surroundings had settled as the ship set herself onto a course and then let himself settle back onto the bed in the centre of the room. He let his elbows fall onto his knees and his head to drop.

He didn't know how long he sat there trying to sort out a plan but he was interrupted as the door opened behind him before quietly shutting. He thought for a moment that the intruder had seen the room was occupied and left but then he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eyes. Tidus moved further into his line of vision before slowly unstrapping his two swords from his back and placing them against the wall.

"Are you ok?" Tidus asked.

"You have to be kidding!" Harry almost laughed. "What about you?"

"I shouldn't have blamed you for not telling me." Tidus explained in way of answering. "You're right, it was Yuna's choice whether I knew or not and I can sort of see why she didn't tell me."

"What do you think about it?" Harry asked.

"Like I've been led on under false pretences." Tidus told him with a distinct sagging of his shoulders.

"Tidus." Harry sighed and looked down at the floor. He looked back up after a moment and saw that Tidus was shrugging off his boots with a relieved sigh.

"It feels good to get rid of those after all this time on the trip." Tidus told him relaxing his feet on the soft material of the floor. "I plan on relaxing. I told the others I was going to get some peace and quiet."

Harry smiled at him gratefully before speaking. "Door lock, engage." There was a distinct click from the door.

"I was about to do that." Tidus smiled.

"Recognise this ship then?" Harry asked curiously.

"No, but I recognise the door locks." Tidus told him before loosening the straps on his Gauntlet and then unzipped and took off the lower part of this vest leaving his toned stomach exposed. His outer jacket flapped slightly like an open shirt. Harry found himself regretful when Tidus stopped there. Tidus chuckled at him before sagging onto the bed beside him. Harry turned and pulled a leg up onto the bed and undid the straps on the inside of his own bracer and let it fall to the floor beside the bed.

"I'm going to be come almost completely clean with you Tidus." Harry declared in a quiet voice.

"Almost completely clean?" Tidus frowned at him.

"I won't keep anything from you apart from when it's to do with either of two things. The first is what I did during the Great Cataclysm and why I'm stuck like I am. I can't bare you knowing that right now. The second is about your Zanarkand."

"Why not about Zanarkand?" Tidus asked looking desperate.

"It won't be that long until you find that out for yourself." Harry told him. "And when that happens I'll try my hardest to be there with you."

"Why won't you tell me about the Great Cataclysm?" Tidus asked with a sigh. "I don't care what you did two thousand years ago."

"But you might and I want a bit of happiness before then." Harry told him but continued when he saw Tidus' face take on that stubborn look Harry secretly liked. "Please, Tidus. Just let me have a bit of happiness beforehand. If you let me have that then I'll never ask you for anything else after you find out."

"Simon loved you even after you told him the truth." Tidus told him. "I only want to know because it obviously hurts you so much. If you want it this way around then I'll give you that."

**(I did write this next scene as an NC-17 one but after some thought I realised that it was well above the M rating possible on ffnet. Instead of downplaying the scene I have removed a couple of paragraphs to bring it down to M. If anybody would like to read the extra parts you can find them by following my homepage link on my profile.)**

Tidus' hands came up to Harry's high-shielded collar and ran around to the zip that ran up the front before he ran it down to loosen the zip. Harry, after so many years didn't feel the cold as much as most people and preferred to travel light. The cold, whilst uncomfortable, couldn't kill him so he only wore the sleeveless gilet. The red leather came apart at the front and Tidus pushed the two halves to the sides to place his hands on Harry's stomach. He looked up from his concentration and Harry met his eyes with permission shining from them.

Harry pulled the top off his arms and let it fall off the edge of the bed to cover his sword's sheath. His boots and socks joined them, and finally the key chained around his neck before he pulled himself away from Tidus to sit against the wall at the end of the bed. He placed his back against the wall and motioned to Tidus who smiled at the invitation and knelt on either side of Harry's legs before sitting on Harry's lap facing the man.

Harry ran his hands up Tidus' stomach and helped the young man out of his own jacket. Tidus leaned forwards and caught Harry's lips in a tender kiss like they had shared only that morning on the top of the shelter and Harry ran his hands up the young man's arms and onto his shoulders before running them down his back.

Tidus shivered slightly at the tender touch and Harry pulled back before kissing his chin lightly. "Maybe Simon was right." Harry spoke quietly as he pulled back.

"About what?"

"That I should let him go and move on." Harry told Tidus. "He said to seize life."

"Well I'm glad you decided to try that with me." Tidus grinned impishly before swooping down to kiss Harry's collar bone. Harry chuckled before bring up his hands to hold Tidus' hair as he forced his head up so he could delve into the younger man's mouth in a passionate kiss that Harry knew was affecting Tidus as much as it was him. Tidus shifted forwards on Harry's lap as the kiss went on under he pressed against Harry's hardened cock restrained by his leather combat trousers. Instead of stopping, Tidus just pressed his chest into Harry's as his hands ran down to the hem of Harry's trousers. Harry ran his fingers down Tidus' back till he found the other man's own trousers and he stopped for a moment just as Tidus managed to undo the clasp that held the top of his trousers together.

They were both breathing heavily as they broke their kiss and stared at each other. "Are you sure you want this now?" Harry asked him.

Tidus nodded furiously. "We'll be travelling with the others for heaven knows how long. I want this and I don't want to waste the opportunity."

**(Edited scene due to content above an M-rating)**

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**A few minutes later**

Tidus collapsed onto Harry as soon as their orgasms had subsided and Harry brought his arms up to hold Tidus' shivering form against him. They didn't care what mess they were in as they came down off of their high and they were happier than they had been in so many years. "I haven't felt this content since before Simon died." Harry whispered in Tidus' ear.

Tidus nodded against his neck before raising himself up slightly. They were both a mess and they both knew they'd have to show up sooner of later even though they both wanted nothing more than to stay here in this room. Perhaps wait for a while before doing it again. "Let's get cleaned up." Tidus went to stand but Harry grabbed him and pulled him back down with a sappy smile.

"Thanks, Tidus." Harry told him and got a confused look. "For being understanding. For saying you'll accept me regardless."

"Can this go on?" Tidus asked after leaning down to steal a kiss from Harry. "I mean between us."

"For as long as you want." Harry told him feeling a slight pang at the fact that in fifty or even seventy year Tidus would die and Harry would be alone again. At least for the time being he could be content.

"No matter what." Tidus told him sincerely before standing and pulling Harry up too. They washed up and even helped each other back into their clothing and finally reattached their weapons. It was decided that Tidus should keep the sword Wakka gifted him for the time being since there were a few Fiends that the Shifting Glacier wouldn't be that effective against. Water and Lightning elementals for example. It was still effective against Ice Fiends because it absorbed ice magic for itself and it's user so at least it wouldn't heal anything later in the pilgrimage.

Tidus' had an interesting time lifting Harry's own sword onto his back since he was obviously exhausted from their activities but Harry let the man clip it on without comment. "We'd best go and find out if they've found Yuna yet."

"Harry?" Tidus stopped them before they left the room. "What do they all know?"

"Obviously the Fayth's told Dona and Isaaru that I'm older than I look. That I knew Simon Kem but I think Seymour told Yuna that I'm the Keeper of the Aeon." Harry sighed.

"How did he find out about that?" Tidus frowned recalling Harry's words about that before they reached the Moon Flow what seemed like a century ago. "I thought nobody knew about that Aeon?"

"Nobody should but I think Anima must had told him about another Aeon and he found out about me from somewhere. Probably from wherever he found out about me being the Destroyer." Harry sighed. "That explains why the Warrior Monks are trying to capture me rather than just killing me like they were ten years ago. He wanted me to help him find it."

"To defeat Sin?" Tidus asked.

"Maybe." Harry sighed and saw the look in the man's eye. "Tidus, please believe me. I've witnessed that Aeon. It destroyed my world twice. Nothing is worth summoning that thing for. Not even to save thousands."

"I believe you." Tidus told him desperately. "I just think the Pilgrimage is wrong."

"So do I." Harry shocked him by saying. "But so is Sin. Do you think your father should have become Sin? None of it is right."

Tidus looked at him sharply at the mention of his father. The first time Harry had outright admitted to knowing where Jecht was even though Tidus had accepted that he did so long ago. He shook his head before turning to the door. Harry pulled him back and gave him a kiss. One that promised a future for the two of them. A light, loving one that Tidus warmed into.

"Next time," Tidus smirked at him. "We switch places."

"Looking forward to it." Harry grinned at the young man.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Control deck**

Harry and Tidus walked into the room and whereas Wakka and Auron were as clueless as ever and Kimahri simply didn't care, Lulu and Rikku gave them knowing looks that rapidly fled when Harry glared at them. They probably didn't realise just what had happened between them and Harry didn't fancy giving them the details either.

"So, have you found her yet?" Harry asked looking to Cid who was fussing over the Tactical Hologram in the centre of the room.

"**No, this infernal thing is harder to use than the damn ship."** Cid said using a curse that he learnt from Harry even as he spoke in Al-bhed.

"That's because your searching near contacts." Harry told him bluntly.

"Oh, I suppose you know how to use it then?" Cid asked rather sarcastically.

"Yes." Harry chuckled. "But it won't do you much good if she's not in front of a sphere-camera."

"What are you talking about?" Tidus asked.

"A sphere-finder." Harry told him using the old Zanarkand layman's term for the device before he turned back to Cid. "You are intent on doing things the hard way aren't you?"

"Hard way?" Cid asked in surprised Common. "We're here to find Yuna, no matter what!"

"Then why don't you just ask?" Harry rolled his eyes before turning to Rikku who would know her way around the ship much better than the others. "Kindly go find either of our Summoners."

"What are you going to do?" Wakka asked nervously. One did not just order a Summoner to come to you.

"Ask them?" Harry suggested.

"How are they supposed to know?" Cid asked.

"They are all linked by the same entities." Harry informed them.

"They are just Aeons." Cid pointed out.

"They are as aware of this world as the Summoners that channel them." Harry told him sharply. "Each Aeon knows everything that each of it's current Summoners are doing."

Rikku interrupted further conversation when she came back into the room dragging a downtrodden Dona behind her. "Isaaru doesn't want to leave his youngest brother at the moment." Rikku told Harry apologetically. "He said he would though if the Sir Guardian had no other choice."

Harry snorted as Dona looked up sharply coming a little bit more alive. "Why are you so depressed, Lady Dona?" Harry asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"I am reassessing my place in the Pilgrimage." Dona told him quietly.

"Well that would be a mistake." Harry said shortly before changing track when she gave him a startled look. "I need you to ask one of your Fayths where Lady Yuna is."

A slightly rebellious look crossed her face and Harry knew he had spurred her back into her Pilgrimage with that small challenge. She almost seemed to want to refuse in helping Yuna and her Guardians but Harry had only ever been nice to her, defended her in Djose Temple and he was a Sir Guardian on top of that. She shuttered her eyes for a full minute but shook her head in irritation. "They speak too much."

"You'll have to summon one." Harry told her.

"I hear them the same whether they are summoned or not." Dona apologised. Harry was surprised not many Summoners could concentrate on their other Fayths when they had an Aeon summoned but when they could they couldn't not do it.

"No matter, I can talk to them when they're summoned." Dona gave him a shocked look. "An Aeon has the ability to talk to any person, they just don't. You could say that they have a measure of respect for me."

She looked around the room gauging it's size before nodding in acceptance. "I'll summon Bahamut."

"Actually I'd rather you summoned Valefor or Ifrit." Harry told her gently.

"But Bahamut is more powerful." Wakka complained obviously wanting to find Yuna as quickly as possible.

"But Valefor and Ifrit are older than the others." Dona pointed out primly. "They were born before our History books. Nobody knows how old they are."

Harry glanced at Tidus with a glint in his eyes before moving back to permit Dona some extra room. His bringing out of her knowledge and his need of her powers had brought back her confident side and the Dona that had walked into the room so depressed and unsure of herself had completely vanished. She brought her staff to bear and an imprint of Neville's symbol etched itself into the floor temporarily. She stepped out of it before drawing her staff in towards her to complete the Summoning. There was no explosion of earth and fire that normally heralded Ifrit's arrival. Instead fire erupted from the ground and formed into his form.

He growled as he flexed his muscles and looked around the control deck with a snarl that made everyone there back away a few steps baring Harry and Dona. Harry stepped into Neville's personal space. "Hello again old friend." Harry spoke getting Ifrit's attention.

'_Hermione's going to be pissed that you didn't get Lady Dona to summon her.'_

Harry smiled and let his hand come up to rub the side of Ifrit's head. He paused as soon as he felt the heat against his hand within inches of his old friend's skin. There was a collective gasp around the room as they saw the motion and worried for Harry but then the flames seemed to dwindle around Ifrit and Harry dropped his hand onto the hot skin and rubbed gently. "She always did appreciate me coming to her for advice."

'_I don't know if I want to tell you where Lady Yuna is.'_ Ifrit told him. They'd obviously all listened to the conversation through Dona. '_We don't want you running into Bevelle and getting hurt, especially since your Aeon is unstable. It wants out and it's becoming harder for us to not help it.'_

"I know, I can feel it." Harry sighed. He hadn't even admitted it to himself until now. With every day that feeling of needing to use his Myst grew. And he dreamt of flying through the air, jumping through mountain ranges and swimming through the oceans, free of restraints in his Aeon form. "Please don't give in."

'_There is something else here though, Harry.'_ Neville told him. '_Something Bahamut refuses to share even when faced with all of our anger. Something about the Sleeper's World.'_

"And Tidus." Harry whispered so the others didn't hear. Ifrit nodded and pushed his head into Harry's hand. "I wish I could free you old friend."

'_Maybe one day they'll decided we have suffered enough.'_ Neville told him sadly before drawing himself up and away from Harry's soothing hand. '_She is in Bevelle. She has agreed to marry the undead Seymour for a chance to Send him. The wedding is set for mid morning tomorrow.'_

Harry snarled at the idea that Seymour was still alive but thanked his friend before stepping back to allow him to be dismissed. Before he vanished though he turned his head on Tidus and jumped forwards. Tidus smacked backwards into the railing behind him with a pale look on his face. '_Look after him, Tidus, or we'll all come after you.' _His words echoed in both Harry's and Tidus' minds and Harry smiled rather warmly at Tidus as Ifrit vanished from the control deck.

"Yuna is in Bevelle." Harry told them all.

"What were you talking about?" Lulu asked.

"Things." Harry told her bluntly. "She has agreed to marry for a chance to Send Seymour."

A round of gasps rocked the room but Cid looked confused. "We killed him in Macalania Temple." Rikku told him.

"And he doesn't seem to have taken the hint that he's not wanted anymore." Harry growled. "I hate Maesters." He muttered under his breath. "The wedding won't be until mid morning so I suggest everybody gets some rest for the night."

"Agreed." Auron took control and Harry bowed gently to Dona before passing her to leave. Tidus caught up to him quickly and they walked together in silence to the room they'd used earlier. They locked the door, helped each other to undress until they were both completely stripped and fell into bed. They were both too tired to do anything but curl up together but Harry found that just as good as sex. He kissed Tidus gently before spooning up behind him and hugging him close.

"I'll look after you, Harry." Tidus told him in a whisper.

"Thanks." Harry laughed. "I think I'll need it."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	9. Holy and Ultima

Bound through the Ages

A/N; I feel it is my duty to warn you that this chapter contains two very sad moments. Obviously I'm more emotionally linked to my characters but the scenes made me sad when I wrote them and proofed them. To further warn you, one of the scenes is at the end of the chapter but it's not a cliffy.

Chapter 9; Holy and Ultima

_**Highwind**_

Harry woke comfortably and felt a feeling in his chest he hadn't felt for over four hundred years, not since Simon had died. He tightened his grip around Tidus and pulled the warm body up against his chest from where he was spooned behind the young man. Tidus felt warm and safe in a world that was less and less comfortable for him. If this world was anybody's it was Harry's. He'd crafted Spira as the Great Aeon, he'd moulded the remains into the new world and ensured the survival of the races when it had looked bleak. He'd guarded it from power hungry sycophants for two millennia, felt both joy and disappointment in it, but more often he'd felt sorrow. For his own hand in it.

Tidus was somebody he could open up to, let his walls down around and he could let the young man look out for him like he had for some many others. Tidus stirred in his arms and pushed back into the warmth of Harry's chest for a second before sighing. Harry grinned and kissed the nape of his neck gently.

"You're awake already?" Tidus mumbled before turning in Harry's arms so he was on his back.

"I'm always awake already." Harry laughed. "Honestly, I just woke up."

"What were you thinking about?" Tidus asked.

"Who says I was thinking about anything?" Harry countered.

"You're always thinking about something. You can see it in your face when we travel." Tidus told him.

"I was just thinking about the world and what I've thought about it over the years." Harry told him.

"Years? Don't you mean Millennia?" Tidus grinned at him.

"Are you calling me an old man?" Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"Old maybe but definitely not an old man." Tidus laughed and looked down his chest towards where Harry's leg was resting over his own. Harry rolled his eyes. "So what have you felt about this world?"

"You have to understand Tidus that I helped create what you live in." Harry explained. "I helped pick up the pieces after the Great Cataclysm and helped turn it into a peaceful Spira."

"But it didn't stay like that did it?" Tidus sighed seeing where this was causing Harry trouble.

"People war, it's in their nature." Harry sighed.

"Even yours?" Tidus asked.

"I don't know how much of a man I am anymore, Tidus. Man is a mortal being." Harry sighed.

"So you're a god?" Tidus grinned.

"I hope not." Harry groaned.

"So you feel angry at the world for warring?" Tidus asked getting back on topic again. Tidus had a habit of switching between topics and Harry found it endearing.

"Not angry really. Sad." Harry sighed. "It's a kind of sad you have to live my lifespan to feel. The feeling that nothing you do can be enough. That if you only had a bit more power you could change it all into something brilliant."

"Harry, you said you had a part in the Great Cataclysm." Tidus asked timidly. "Wouldn't you have to be really powerful for that?"

Harry winced and dropped his head onto the pillow. "Power comes in different forms, Tidus. You've seen my magic and what it can do but even that much power isn't enough to rewrite the world."

"But you said an Aeon caused the Great Cataclysm so the power has to exist." Tidus told him.

"Destructive power maybe. That's a power that can never do good no matter what it's intention. A bomb can be used to try to make peace but in the end it will only cause damage." Harry explained. "Aeons in their way are simply weapons of a more intelligent kind. They can be used to make peace because they can make a choice. The Aeon that created this world knows only destruction. I've felt it's rage both times it was summoned. No Tidus, some power can only be used to destroy."

Tidus changed the subject after a few moments. "Harry? What's Myst?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask me that." Harry told him. "As far as I can guess it is a magic more powerful and deadly then that wielded by the Black Mages in Spira. It is rarely controllable and tends to lash out on its own."

"But you said I used it for my Overdrives." Tidus prompted.

"But did you actually control it. When it took you over against the Ice Demon did you have control of the blade... of your body?" Harry asked and Tidus' eyes widened slightly. "When you were using Myst over the Ice Lake were you directing it or was it simply channelling through you?"

"You use it though don't you?" Tidus asked. "You said you've only ever seen yourself use it."

"My initiate overdrive uses it true but only in the same way your Divergent does." Harry explained. "It resides in me and reacts to my anger reaching out. The Great Aeon is the only creature known that has the power to control it and it is a vast part of its power."

"What does it do?" Tidus asked. "Myst I mean."

"Whatever it wants." Harry sighed. "But in its normal state it is the most deadly. One touch of it on somebody like Yuna or Wakka for example and their heart would never beat again. That is how your Divergent killed."

Tidus shivered. "I don't think I want to use that anymore."

"You have little choice, you are brimming with it." Harry told him. "It is what I first sensed in you when I saw you in Zanarkand though I didn't know what it was at the time. Valefor spoke to me of it in Besaid when you were accused of defiling the temple."

"I still don't want it." Tidus told him and sat up. Harry followed him up and sat behind him hugging him around the waist. After a moment Tidus asked another question. "The Final Overdrive, how does it work?"

"You have to of felt the connection to the magic beforehand. Normally it happens when the magic is turned against you in battle and your Overdrive kicks in to absorb the spell but depending on the power of the spell simply watching it being cast is enough to form the connection." Harry lectured with his head on Tidus' shoulder. "After that it is a case of bringing it to bare in a fight."

"That's not very helpful." Tidus told him.

"You get angry in a fight and you use your anger against the enemy?" Harry asked and Tidus nodded. "It works in much the same way. The spell becomes you and you become it whether it is simply a Fire spell or greater."

"What if mine is Myst?" Tidus asked.

"I don't think that's possible." Harry told him. "You have to be able to control the spell within your body. Myst does not allow that level of control."

"You're Ultima?" Tidus asked suddenly remembering something Harry had once said.

"Yes." Harry nodded. "No spell can touch me when I'm in my Final Overdrive, no weapon can reach me and no attacker can survive."

"What about Holy?" Tidus asked. "Could that hurt you?"

"It's possible but few people can cast that spell and nobody has ever tried to cast it against me when I'm in that state." Harry sighed.

"State?" Tidus asked.

"Ultima, as the name suggests is the Master spell of magic. It is horrifying to see. Imagine facing me when I'm angry enough to have brought it up in me. Green flames burning off of me and licking up around me taking the life out of everything around me. Grass dies, trees wither and crack. And ever a sound that nobody can forget. It's like when the air is sucked from a room only it's like the sound is also sucked out of your mind."

"What are Ultima and Holy?" Tidus asked. "Lulu couldn't tell me anything higher than Flare."

"Lulu has probably never witnessed either being cast." Harry sighed. "Ultima is a derivation of a spell from my old world that killed on contact. When I was a very young I became famous for being the first to ever survive it. Since it has mutated it is slightly easier to survive but somebody always dies. The only way to block it is to cast a more powerful Ultima which inevitably kills the one that attacked you."

"And Holy?"

"Holy is a power from where souls pass on to." Harry told him revealing knowledge long lost through the years. "It is the power of the souls there reaching down and destroying whatever the spell is directed at. It is because of that that I am uncertain whether it can get to me when I'm in my Final Overdrive."

"So it's more powerful depending on how much of the Souls' power you can channel?" Tidus guessed.

"Very good." Harry nodded. "It works more effectively against the Undead or unnatural but few people have enough magic in them to shield their own life from it."

"Should we go find the others?" Tidus asked.

"Perhaps." Harry nodded against the side of his face before kissing his neck. "We'll arrive in Bevelle soon."

Together they washed and dressed before making their way through the ship. When they arrived in the control deck there were very few people there. Cid was pacing in a circle around the Tactical Hologram while muttering to himself. There was an Al-bhed at one of the consoles biting her lip as she worked. Rikku and her brother were sitting at the helm. Harry came up behind Cid and waited to be noticed while Tidus stopped next to Rikku and stared out of the front of the ship rather forlornly. Probably homesick for the technology he'd had at his disposal in Zanarkand.

**"Cid. The deck's strong but it might not stand up to your pacing for much longer." **Harry spoke softly in Al-bhed, his words were of a slightly old accent.

**"I'm worried!"** Cid told him stopping and spinning on the spot to face him.

**"You worry all too much."** Harry told him.

**"My Niece is in Bevelle on her own! Why shouldn't I worry?"** Cid glared at him. Rikku was whispering in Tidus' ear and Harry could tell she was translating for him. Even so Harry stayed in Al-bhed.

**"Alone?"** Harry laughed with a glint in his eyes. **"A Summoner is never alone with her Aeons."**

"Your accent is strange." Rikku suddenly spoke up. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought it was weird but I couldn't put my finger on why."

"Rikku, what are you talking about?" Tidus asked. "It's Al-bhed right?"

"It's perfect but strange." Rikku frowned.

"I've been speaking Al-bhed longer than you have, Rikku. If anybody's accent is strange it is yours." Harry told her bluntly but his grin betrayed him to Tidus who chuckled just as the room was flooded with people. Auron led an anxious Lulu and Wakka into the room followed quickly by a silent as usual Kimahri.

"Good timing." Cid announced loudly. "Let's get this show on the road, not long till the wedding starts! We'll be there shortly!"

"Cid, there is something you don't seem to be taking into account." Harry pointed out slowly as if talking to a child.

"What are you talking about?" Wakka demanded as if Harry had hidden this on purpose to ruin the rescue mission.

"Bevelle has a certain form of Air Defence." Harry spoke simply. "It has not been seen for some years but I assure you it is still...alive."

"Alive?" Rikku gulped.

"Then we'll just have to un-alive it!" Cid declared.

"Un-alive it?" Harry asked but shook his head with a sigh. They were interrupted from further discussion as the ship lurched as if something had rubbed along its side. Alarms began ringing and Harry sighed again and headed to the door. The others stared after him in confusion though Auron sighed and began following him. He'd know what it was from his own training as a Warrior Monk. Wakka and Lulu would probably work it out given enough time too.

They were stopped at the door when Rin ran into the room with a gasp. "We're under attack!"

"We did kind of feel that, Rin." Harry drawled.

"From within. Guado snuck on board!" Rin told him.

"For the love of..." Harry sighed before unclipping his sword and swinging it around before slipping passed Rin and into the corridor beyond. Tidus ran up to his side a few moment later with his sword in his hand. "I don't know if it's me or you attracting all this trouble."

Tidus laughed. "What's life without a bit of excitement?"

"I've had enough excitement in my life to last several lifetimes." Harry shook his head but his smile showed he wasn't upset. Harry didn't know what the Guado had planned for the inside of the ship but they didn't actually meet any as Harry led the group of seven, including himself, up to the observation deck. Harry assumed they were easily handled by the two Summoners and the multitude of Al-bhed on the ship.

"What the hell is that!?" Tidus gasped and flinched away from the window.

"I did say there was Air Defence." Harry pointed out.

"The Guardian Wyrm, Evrae." Lulu spoke up in awe, obviously she'd worked it out. "The Great Sacred Beast, Protector of Bevelle."

"The Red Carpet has teeth." Auron chuckled.

"It's rather overrated if you ask me." Harry turned from the window and headed slowly towards the door that led out onto the deck.

_"Rikku! You read me? We're gonna fight that thing!"_ Cid's voice announced over the speakers. _"Get on deck and show him what you got!"_

"The ferryman asks a high price." Auron muttered.

"You're welcome to hide in here, great Warrior Monk." Harry sniped and once again turned towards the front of the ship. The deck was ridiculously cold and windy as the _Highwind_ passed quickly through the air. Harry easily braced himself and waited near the door as the others did the same. Evrae had vanished somewhere into the clouds or behind the ship where they couldn't see it but Harry wasn't all that worried about it. It was alive which meant it could be killed.

Harry was walking towards the front of the ship when a rustled of feathers and a high pitched vibration rippled through the air. Harry rolled forwards and sensed Evrae's talons just miss his head. "Harry!" Tidus yelled.

"Found it!" Harry yelled back before turning to look out at the Evrae twisting elegantly through the clouds. **"Cid! Shoot it!"**

_**"One second!"**_ Cid called back. Harry waited patiently and just as the Evrae looked like it was going to attack again the deck jerked and ten rockets streaked from the right side of the ship and pummelled into the beast. It jerked in the air looking every bit like it would topple out of the sky but then regained itself shrugging of the rocket impacts before it dove down towards the ship.

"Here we go!" Auron yelled and levelled his sword ready.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him before sheathing his own sword onto his back and brought his hands in front of him. He could use an Ultima against it if he really wanted to but that had its own risks while standing precariously on an Airship deck travelling at fast speeds. A Flare would be equally as good but he'd save such magic for when it was really needed. The Evrae swooped over head and sent Kimahri flying as the Ronso slashed into its belly. Auron caught him even as Harry called down a Thundaga from the clouds above them which struck the beast in the back.

"Harry! Can't you just kill it?" Tidus gasped stopping next to him.

"Then where would you get the training you need for later?" Harry asked. Tidus shook his head at him in amazement before deciding to guard Harry since he'd made it clear he'd stick to magic for this one.

The Evrae swooped back clearly deciding that Harry was the greater threat since as it passed over its tail lashed out at him and Tidus. Tidus brought up his sword and Harry cast a Protect Shield over them both. The shield battered the tail away from them and Tidus leapt up and slashed the Shifting Glacier through the end of the tail. Ice sprung up along its tail as it screeched in pain.

It twisted in midair and reared up. Light flashed around its head and Harry rolled both him and Tidus away as a storm of blindingly hot lances of light sizzled into the deck where they'd been standing. "Are you enjoying this?" Tidus asked from under him.

"This?" Harry eyed him. "Yes. But the fight _is_ getting a bit old."

Harry pulled himself back onto his feet and grabbed Tidus' hand to pull him up as well. Lulu seeing the damage Tidus' sword had did sent a newly learned Blizzaga at Evrae. The ice struck it in the belly and it reared around. Everybody choose that moment to attack. Kimahri jumped forwards off of his lance and gave it a nasty slash across the neck. Tidus reached out a hand and shocked Harry by sending a basic Thunder into its head. Rikku threw a potion bottle at it which it obviously didn't like. Auron followed Kimahri's example with a slash of his own and finally Wakka launched his Blitzball at it.

Harry stared at Tidus in surprise. "When did you learn that?" Harry asked.

"Could we discuss that after it's dead?" Tidus asked.

Harry turned to the Evrae and it spotted him and reared up dangerously even as it settled just above him. Harry brought his hands up above his head and a nimbus of black and red energy writhed between his hands before vanishing. Instantly the same black and red mass of energy erupted from within the Evrae. The Flare tore outwards like a nova with streaks of black and red flames. The black hole collapsed into itself leaving the Evrae to fall off to the side as it died. It was already decaying as it disappeared from sight.

"You were saying, Tidus?" Harry asked as he turned back to the stunned looking young man.

"Lulu taught me?" Tidus asked. "I asked her to in Bikanel."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?" Harry's cheeky look told Tidus he wasn't all that annoyed. "You did good."

Tidus beamed at him but they were interrupted by a cough from Lulu. Harry turned to look at her and she pointed down of the side of the ship where Bevelle was rapidly getting closer. **"Cid? How did you plan on us getting off?"** Harry asked loudly.

**"The Anchor Cables!"** Cid told him.

**"Are you mad!?"** Harry growled as Tidus yanked on his arm for a translation. "I hope you're all up to a bit of surfing."

As the ship slowed above Bevelle and the Temple the air burst into life with flak from the Machina defences. "Better get down as fast as possible." Harry told the others. "I don't fancy going for a slide though so I'll meet you at the bottom."

The ship jerked as Cid launched two thick cables down onto the walkway almost fifty metres below them. The ship slowed to an almost halt and Harry ordered them to go. Tidus went first followed by Rikku and Kimahri and eventually Auron, Wakka and Lulu followed them. Harry shook his head as he looked down over the side before he took a dive off the front of the ship and down into open air. He fell passed the chains the others were using before twisting his body to right himself. With a massive gust of magic he called up the winds to batter him, slowing him down so when he landed in the middle of the walkways between the Temple and the Shrine it was only moderately jarring.

Harry lashed out with his hands and an automated drone warrior was electrocuted with a Thundaga that blasted two of the Warrior Monks nearby. His sword was out in a flash and before the others landed at the base of the Anchor cables he'd killed eight more Warrior Monks and three Battle drones.

"Don't do that again!" Tidus slapped him on the arm as the others dove into battle. Harry eyed him with a confused look. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"What's life without a bit of excitement?" Harry asked back. Tidus glared at him and darted into battle. Harry followed the group more sedately as they worked their way up to the Shrine. Harry could easily make out Grand Maester Mika, Maester Kinoc, Maester Seymour and Yuna, all at the top of what they called the Tower of Light.

Harry knew they couldn't just grab Yuna and run since Seymour could easily kill her where she stood. Something would have to happen. So when Harry found himself and the others surrounded by no less than twenty Warrior Monks aiming their guns at him he didn't instantly do anything. "This has gone far enough!" Kinoc announced holding his own gun under Auron's chin.

Harry watched as Yuna pulled her Rod and turned to Seymour. "You would play at Marriage just for a chance to Send me? What about all that I have told you? The possibilities between you and I?" Seymour asked her. "With your resolve and my knowledge?"

"Who's knowledge, Seymour?" Harry snapped drawing himself up.

"Ah, you have come. I am so glad."

"Send him Yuna!" Harry ordered. He knew and felt that Yuna was being ordered and begged to do just that by Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion and Shiva. All asking her to stop him from threatening the world. Harry could almost hear the words echoing through her mind. She winced and rubbed at her head but she caved to her Aeons and brought up her Rod to begin the Sending.

"Stop!" Mika yelled. "Do you not value your friend's lives? Your actions determine their fate. Protect them...or throw them away. The choice is yours?"

Yuna paused but her hand fell to her side and she sagged. "You are wise." Seymour told her. "Together we'll have our answers and we can save Spira." With that he leaned forwards and forced Yuna into a kiss. Bells rang through the air and they could hear cheering from somewhere below as the city heard the signal that the wedding was complete.

Seymour let go of Yuna who staggered backwards. "Kill them! Except the Destroyer."

Kinoc rounded on Tidus with the gun and Harry's own sword was at his throat in an instant. Four guns were pointed at his own head. "Who's faster?" Harry hissed angrily.

"It is for the good of Yevon." Kinoc told him.

"You will be the second to die and the first to die for the good of Spira." Harry hissed dangerously. He was losing his patience. Green flashed through his eyes and bled into his skin. Kinoc gasped and flinched back seeing a Final Overdrive though he obviously hadn't worked out which spell was being used.

"Kill him!" Kinoc ordered. Harry didn't mind as long as they didn't try to kill Tidus first.

"No!" Yuna suddenly shouted. Harry glanced at her and somehow she'd snuck away to the edge of the Shrine. Her heels almost over the edge. "Throw down your weapons. Let them go or else..."

Seymour groaned but made a curt gesture and the Warrior Monks lowered their weapons. Harry reigned in his Overdrive with a groan. "Leave now! Please!" Yuna begged them.

"You're coming with us!" Tidus yelled.

"Don't worry, go!" Yuna shouted. Harry felt the brush of his best friend's mind and understood. Yuna tipped backwards over the edge and Seymour, Mika and half of the Warrior Monks gasped and ran to the edge. Harry grabbed Tidus and tugged him backwards before he could run to the edge. Rikku darted forwards throwing something at Kinoc's feet.

"Run!" Harry ordered throwing Tidus before him. The others followed before a loud bang and a bright flash of light blinded all of the Warrior Monks. Smoke poured off the edge of the walkway as Harry and the others ran across it towards the temple. Harry barred the door tightly once they were all inside. "We go to the bottom. The Trials and the Fayth are there."

"Yuna?" Wakka asked.

"Valefor caught her. She'll already be in the Trials." Harry told him.

"What are we waiting for then. Let's go." Wakka demanded and turned to the long flight of stairs that led down through the temple in a long spiral. Harry paused as they started down the steps and hit a button on the control panel. The steps in front of Wakka vanished into the ground leaving only the section they stood on. Harry hit another button and the steps jerked forwards. Harry sat on the step he was standing on and sighed.

"This is Machina!" Lulu gasped.

"Evidently." Harry mused.

"You've been here before?" Wakka asked.

"Of course I have. I am a Sir Guardian after all." Harry told him. "Bevelle's more private areas are full of Machina. Rather hypocritical of them if you ask me."

Tidus sat at his side as the journey down through the Temple continued. "Will we have to fight our way out of the Temple?"

"Most probably." Harry leaned his head back on his shoulders and shuttered his eyes.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Chamber of the Fayth**

Harry led them through the Trials with practiced ease. It hadn't changed in all the years he'd been taking Summoners to Zanarkand. He did find out that Lulu had never been there. After acquiring Shiva her Summoner had asked to train in the Calm Lands before trying to gain Bahamut. Whilst in the Calm Lands she had heard rumours of the hidden Aeon lying in the canyon to the north and convinced Lulu that they should go there. That had been her fateful decision.

The antechamber was empty as Harry shut the door behind them but the Fayth was singing his song in a soft voice. Harry rarely talked to this Fayth more out of spite than anything else. Even as a child he had taken part in the Summoning that had released the Great Aeon from its slumber and then offered himself up as a Fayth. Harry preferred not to talk to him but this time he needed information.

"Kimahri, give me a hand with this." Harry told him moving straight to the heavy inter-lapping doors that only the Fayth could open.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Wakka gasped. "That's forbidden."

"Kimahri?" Harry asked. The Ronso grunted and moved next to Harry as he bent his legs and together with an eager Tidus they forced the leaf shaped doors up enough for Harry and Tidus to slip through them and into the Chamber of the Fayth.

"What's that!?" Tidus gasped as soon as they were in. Yuna was kneeling, still in her wedding dress, at the edge of the crystal prison that the Fayth was buried in. Above it hung a ghostly figure of one of the Zanarkand Summoners. Harry knew him from before Zanarkand had been destroyed, his name was Christopher and he'd been the youngest of the Summoners. Harry had raised the orphan like a brother and they'd been friends.

"The Fayth of Bahamut, he speaks with the Summoner and then joins with them. If the Summoner is strong enough to channel the Fayth they become linked for eternity." Harry told him. "Unlike the others, Bahamut chose this fate."

Harry stared at Christopher as he hung above the crystal and suddenly the boy looked away from Yuna and stared directly at Harry for a moment. _"I was always sorry for what we did. For what I did." _Christopher spoke so only Harry could hear him. _"This time will be different, we have worked. The others will agree in the end."_

"It will never be different!" Harry yelled at the boy making both Tidus and Yuna jump.

_"It will be."_ Christopher told him. Harry realised the other two could hear it this time. He was crying, looking at Harry with utter pain in his expression. _"So long you've hated me, Harry. When will it end?"_

Harry shook his head. The song changed tone becoming something completely different, something without hope as it bled with Christopher's pain and regret. The regret of somebody that had made a decision in their youth that had changed everything. He turned back to Yuna and slid into her. Yuna fell backwards with a gasp as Christopher changed her magical core to accept his own power.

"Tidus, we will have company soon." Harry told him, he knew that Seymour would have guessed Yuna's destination even if he hadn't simply followed the rest of them down. "Don't do anything foolish."

Tidus nodded and Harry drew him into a kiss before he stepped over to Yuna and lifted her. Harry carried Yuna out of the Chamber of the Fayth into a scene similar to what he had imagined though he hadn't thought they'd be there already. Each of the Guardians had two Warrior Monks aiming guns at their backs. Harry raised his eyebrows at Kinoc as two men rushed forwards and harshly took the dreary Yuna from his arms.

"Restrain him!" Kinoc ordered even though the others weren't being man handled. Harry was shoved down onto his knees and his arms pulled around to his front and locked into heavy metal handcuffs that weakened his magic instantly. The idea was sound, most people could only just cast the higher magicks with focuses, taking away his focus and then some of his magic should keep him from casting spells. In reality Harry would have to concentrate really hard to cast an Ultima spell with this on.

"Take them out and lead them to the Trial." Kinoc ordered before pausing and looking at Harry. "In fact, knock him out. I'm not taking any risks."

Harry narrowed his eyes in anger but simply braced himself as the blow came down on the back of his head knocking him down onto the floor and unconscious. He dimly heard a scuffle and hoped that Tidus would remember his words about not doing anything foolish.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry came back around as he was thrown against a railing. Somebody waved something pungent under his nose, he didn't jerk back as they were expecting but he did take his own weight realising with irritation that his manacles were locked into the front of the booth he was standing in. Three Warrior Monks were standing behind holding their guns loosely aimed at his back.

Harry looked around with narrowed eyes around the vast chamber that the Maesters of Yevon called the Council Chambers. Opposite him was the large balcony holding Grand Maester Mika and Maester Kelk Ronso, to the left of that balcony was another holding Seymour and to the right was one holding Maester Kinoc, leader of the Warrior Monks.

Nearer to Harry, on his right, but still separated by twenty feet of empty space was another small pod like his own holding Yuna and two Warrior Monks and then finally along the right hand side was a long walkway where Tidus, Auron, Rikku, Kimahri, Lulu and Wakka were being watched over by a half dozen Warrior Monks. They were all unarmed.

Harry took inventory of himself from the bottom to top. His boots, socks, trousers, underwear and leather sleeveless jacket with its high armoured collar were still there along with, to his immense relief, the Key but his Bracer and Sword were gone.

"Is he conscious enough?" Kinoc asked loudly, his voice spreading through the vast room, even into the shadows below. One of the Warrior Monks prodded him with the end of his gun and Harry turned to glare at him.

"Do that again and you'll take a flying lesson." Harry growled.

"Now, now." Kinoc sighed, "Are you simply a Barbarian as the rumours suggest or can you be civil?"

"Return my weapon to me and I'll show you exactly how civil I can be." Harry growled before gripping the edge of the pod with his hands.

"Enough." Mika voice was quiet but clear. "The High Court of Yevon is now in session. The sacred offices of this court seek nothing but absolute truth, in Yevon's name. To those on trial, believe in Yevon, and speak only the truth." Harry almost laughed at him.

"And what are our supposed crimes?" Harry interrupted loudly. He cared very little for this trial.

"Await your turn!" Kinoc ordered harshly.

Harry laughed. "The trial is already complete within your heads."

"Be silent." Kelk Ronso told him and took control of the trial. "Summoner Yuna. You have sworn to protect the people of Spira, true?"

"Yes." Yuna spoke up for the first time.

"Then consider..." He paused as he glanced at the others. "You have inflicted dire injury upon Maester Seymour Guado. You have conspired with the Al-bhed and joined their insurrection. These are traitorous and unforgivable crimes that disturb the order of Yevon. Tell this court why you participated in such violence."

"Don't speak Yuna." Harry ordered and drew himself up. "You speak of crimes committed yet you offer no proof. Offer proof and we shall speak."

"Maester Seymour Guado was witness to these deeds." Mika spoke up.

"That is not proof. Proof is material, not words from the mouth of a liar." Harry snapped. "Where is your proof!? Seymour is clearly in full standing health so no dire injury could have been caused unless there is something he is not telling us!"

Harry glared at Seymour and assessed the faces of the other Maesters. Only Mika didn't look surprised by this accusation and Harry narrowed his eyes in anger. "The dead should never rule the living you coward!"

"You speak out of turn!" Mika snapped.

"Your Grace!" Yuna stepped in before things could get out of hand. "Seymour is the traitor, he killed his father with his own hands!"

"What is this?" Kelk gasped and turned to Seymour.

"Oh?" Seymour drawled. "Hadn't you heard?"

"Not only that but he is already dead!" Yuna argued.

"It is a Summoner's sworn duty to send the souls of the dead to the Farplane." Lulu spoke up primly from the walkway.

"Grand Maester Mika. Please send him!" Yuna pleaded.

"Yuna! Forget it." Harry shook his head as she looked at him. "Mika is already dead."

"What!?" Yuna turned around in shock to see a laughing Mika with a small cloud of pyreflies leaking from his body.

"Grand Maester Mika is a wise leader." Kelk spoke up. "Even in death he is invaluable to Spira."

"Enlightened rule of the dead is preferable to the misguided failures of the living." Kinoc put in.

"Life is but a passing dream but the death that follows is eternal." Seymour added his two cents to the mix.

"Men die, beast die, trees die. Even continents perish." Mika spoke clearly in the shocked silence. "Only the power of death truly commands in Spira. Resisting it power is futile."

Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. He laughed so hard and bitterly that he had to hold onto the banister in front of him. When he got control of himself he turned a nasty smirk at Mika. "You'll die soon enough old man and then there won't be enough of your soul left for you to pass on!" Harry sneered. "Death is inevitable? Maybe for such as you but this path you walk is not true death and as was said before, death will come for you eventually."

"What do you know of death?" Seymour snapped. "Was it one or two Maesters you assassinated two hundred years past?"

Harry laughed and shook his head at them all even though his friends were looking at him in confusion at his attitude. "So my trial begins? What are the charges against me?"

Seymour narrowed his eyes at his attitude. "The deaths of two Maesters in the year 823."

"That is all?" Harry shook his head. "That is all you could dig up? What am I, Seymour? Do you even know that much?"

"You are the Protector of the Great Aeon. The holder of the location of the greatest power in Spira." Seymour glared at him. "The descendent of the Destroyer, who must bear his name until justice is wrought upon you."

Harry laughed at him again. "You are an idiot, Seymour. The descendent of the Destroyer?" Yuna gazed upon him with wild eyes, she knew the truth, maybe not all of it but she had put some of the pieces together. "I _am_ the Destroyer! The _i__mmortal_ Protector of the Great Aeon. I am the Walker of the Ages and a thousand other names given to me as the watcher of your Ancestors all the way back to when Zanarkand was a mere dream in the winds. When the continents perished in war and fire!"

"Impossible!" Mika snapped.

"I _am_ Spira! I was there when it was rendered out of the ashes of the old. I was there when the Great Aeon was unleashed and the world was obliterated under its wings of power and you string me up and shout meaningless words at me about death being inevitable and the commander of this world." Harry chuckled at them. He couldn't look at Tidus and the others, he couldn't see the looks in their faces. "But you didn't bring Yuna here to be tried and executed. You didn't bring all the others to stand and watch this farce to preach about the Spiral of Death I have heard you all speak of before. You brought them here to find the location of the power. Why?"

They reeled from his words. Kinoc stared at him in abject horror but it was clear they were confused at his words. Hence why Harry had spoken with so many turns of phrases. It would take them all at least a few hours to work out his words, even his friends didn't have a clue about what he was saying.

"Where is the Aeon?" Seymour growled low.

Harry sneered at him. "None may find it. I would kill you before you try."

"Get him out of my sights!" Mika snapped and Harry felt the pod lurch backwards. Harry smirked at the four Maesters but let himself be dragged out of the Council Chamber and through the corridors without a fight. He left his head hung low over his chest looking at his multitude of captors as he walked along within their increasing circle all the way to a cell deep within Bevelle. Harry paused just inside his cell and turned to look out at the eight men ordered to guard him.

"You have no idea what you are guarding do you?" Harry asked them. They refused to answer him. "I am not human. I am worse than your harshest nightmare and I will escape as soon as I have a little chat with Seymour. When I do you'll have exactly three seconds to run before I kill you. Do you hear me?"

They didn't answer.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Three hours later**

Harry leaned against the back wall of his cell staring out through the bars to where one of the Warrior Monks had stood. The man had moved about two and a half hours ago after Harry's stare had gotten to him. None of the other Warrior Monks would stand there. Harry was simply waiting and accessing his magic. He'd already broken the manacles with a brief intense flash of magic though nobody had seen it. Control of magic itself was almost impossible as far as the current citizens were concerned. They understood that young people with the potential to become strong Mages sometimes lost their temper and would release a burst of magic that often caused a bit of damage but controlled use of pure magic was unheard of and since the Maesters couldn't do it, it was therefore impossible.

Harry scoffed at the idea especially since he'd long ago realised that nothing was impossible. Some things just took longer to be achieved than others. Harry's didn't even focus away from the wall as Seymour stopped on the other side of the bars. Harry's eyes instead just seemed to focus through him.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know. You'll be rewarded with your life and that of your companions." Seymour told him as if talking to an underling.

Harry's bright green eyes focused on Seymour and held his gaze with eyes that had seen everything. "Be more respectful to your elders, Seymour."

"I want to know the location of the Great Aeon's Fayth." Seymour demanded.

"Can't Anima tell you?" Harry smirked and pushed away from the wall. Seymour's eyes widened. "Oh, you didn't realise that I knew where your information was coming from?"

"It hardly matters where the information came from. It is true and you will tell me what I want to know." Seymour glared at him.

"You have yet to ask." Harry pointed out flippantly. "But I'll overlook that and go straight to telling you to go to hell."

"Hell?" Seymour frowned and Harry sighed. Curses just didn't have the same affect anymore. "Where is the Great Aeon's Fayth?"

"You can't force that information out of me, Seymour." Harry told him blandly.

"Your father told you and his father before him. Ever since the location was made a secret." Seymour spat. "And now you will tell me."

"So you do not believe me?" Harry laughed. "Fair enough but my father died before the creation of Spira. He has no knowledge of Aeons and Fayths."

"You try my patience." Seymour growled. "In the end you will tell me or your friends will die. All men talk when those they care about are threatened."

Harry laughed. The cold and bitter sound made Seymour's eyes narrow. "Seymour? You are an idiot. I would kill them myself to keep the secret hidden."

"Then they will all die." Seymour shrugged but didn't look so confident as Harry simply smirked at him. "You will be powerless to stop it and Yuna will serve me and soon Anima will find out the location of the Great Aeon's Fayth from the others and together we will use it to free the world from their pain."

"Well at least you're as insane as all the others I've met." Harry shrugged. "Something tells me Yuna will not so easily go along with your plan and without her you have nothing. You are not a Summoner, your power lies in a link of another kind. A bond in life and sacrifice in death."

Seymour turned his back on Harry and he was very tempted to lash out with a spell and rip Seymour apart but it wouldn't do any good until he could be Sent. His very presence proved he wouldn't move on by himself. "You will watch them all die within the Via Purifico before you die screaming in pain."

"You cannot kill me, Seymour. No matter what you do." Harry warned him with a straight face. "You can only anger me until I destroy Yevon entirely."

Seymour vanished down the hallway and Harry waited. "Get away from the bars." One of the guards told him. Harry looked at him and held his gaze until the other man looked away.

Harry chuckled. "You have three minutes."

Harry waited without movement until the three minutes were up. His captors were obviously less than worried about what he'd threatened but they'd learn the hard way. Harry struck out with a spell he didn't use all that often. The Graviga spell exploded into being within the bars of his cell sucking in even the light in that area until a black nothingness separated Harry and the Warrior Monks. It collapsed in on itself taking with it the bars and stones that fronted his cell as well as two of the Warrior Monks. Sound finally escaped the vortex as Harry heard the cries of warning as he deftly stepped out of the cell to be faced by six Warrior Monks and their weapons.

"Three." Harry warned. They frowned but clearly didn't know what he was talking about. "Two." This time their eyes widened as his original warning came to them and two of the Warrior Monks ran for it. Harry shuttered his eyes as he called his magic up before muttering the final, "One."

With a gust of screaming air, a whine of magic against stone and a shriek of pain the corridor flooded with horrible green magic. The Ultima ripped along the hallways stripping the lives from the remaining four guards. The spell faded and Harry barely even glanced at the bodies on the ground. He had warned them. Harry glanced to the left and then the right recalling where he was in the dungeons before working out where they'd most likely taken Tidus and the others.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Tidus paced around the cell that hung from the shadows above them on a thick metal chain. Auron leaned against one side and had long given up following Tidus' movement with his eyes.

"Get me out of here!" Tidus yelled through the bars suddenly.

"You waste your breath." Auron told him with a quick glance.

"I hope Harry and Yuna are ok." Tidus sighed. He wasn't too worried about the others since he could make them out from his own cage. Kimahri and Wakka sat on the floor of theirs just on the other side of a long walkway that cut across the entire cavern like room while Rikku and Lulu stood in their own one closer to Tidus and Auron's just on the other side of a small walkway that jutted out from the larger one before ending in open space.

"I wouldn't worry about Harry, except if he does something stupid." Auron grunted. "Yuna is also strong. She will be fine."

"Do you believe what he said in there?" Tidus asked carefully making it seem as if Harry hadn't already told him a lot. He was still working his way through everything that Harry had shouted in that Council Chamber. The terms and phrases confused everyone and he knew it.

"There is definitely something strange about him." Auron told him. "He knows too much to be a normal man."

"He said he was immortal." Tidus pushed. He wanted to know what Auron would do.

"Nothing is immortal." Auron shook his head. "Everything dies if it is wounded enough."

"Why does everything in Spira have to revolve around Death?" Tidus grumbled. If there was ever a thing that made Harry not belong in Spira it was that. He was the complete opposite of everything he'd heard Spira was about. A being that couldn't die in a world that seemed to balance on death.

"The Spiral of Death." Auron chuckled mimicking both Harry and Mika's words.

"Huh?" Tidus frowned.

"Summoners challenge the bringer of death, Sin, and die doing so. Guardians give their lives to protect their Summoner." Auron explained. "The Fayth are the souls of the dead. Even the Maesters of Yevon are unsent. Spira is full of death. Only Sin is reborn, and then only to bring more death. It is a cycle of death, spiralling endlessly."

They were interrupted from their conversation as a group of people walked out of one of the locked doors that led onto the large walkway. Kimahri, Wakka, Rikku and Lulu stood from where they'd been silently listening to Auron's words. Kinoc led a large group of Warrior Monks out through the door. The twenty or so Monks seemed rather more cautious than before.

"It's time to go." Kinoc told them as he stopped just along the shorter walkway. "Your sentence has been decided."

"Sentence?" Auron chuckled. "Don't you mean execution?"

"Really, what sort of person would execute an old friend?" Kinoc laughed.

"You would." Auron narrowed his eyes. "Why so many guards? Are you that scared of us?"

"Not really." Kinoc cast a nervous glance at the doorway that had been securely bolted behind them. "It seems that our dear Maester Seymour said something to upset the Destroyer who blew out the front of his cell and is currently working his way down through the dungeons."

Auron laughed. "Not scared of one man are you, Kinoc?"

"One man!?" Kinoc gasped and his eyes flashed with something akin to fear. "His ancestors and he have killed more Yevonites than Sin!"

Tidus vaguely realised that nobody seemed to have taken Harry's claimed immortality all that seriously. Maybe that was why he'd been so insane sounding when he'd ranted about it. "So you're going to execute us quickly before he gets here?" Tidus asked.

"Oh, there's nothing quick about where we're going to send you." Kinoc smirked before a loud muffled cry of panic made all the Warrior Monks spin their guns on the door. Green light seeped through the wooden panes of the doorway and the air in the chamber whistled. Lulu gasped in shock and horror as she obviously recognised the spell and Tidus found himself remembering the lecture Harry had given him about Ultima.

"He was supposed to be unarmed!" Kinoc shouted at the Warrior Monks.

"He was sir!" One of the Warriors called back as the men took up defensive positions.

"He doesn't need a focus." Tidus smirked down at Kinoc. The door seemed to warp with darkness for a moment before it flew straight off of its hinges and straight along the central walkway, knocking half a dozen of the Warrior Monks down into the depths.

Harry stepped regally into the room and paused as he looked around, taking in Tidus, Auron, Lulu, Rikku, Kimahri and finally Wakka before looking distastefully at the fifteen men on the walkway.

"Open fire!" Kinoc yelled.

It happened in a second. A loud chorus of gunshots echoed across the room but Harry didn't even flinch. Green light burst out of his eyes before spreading across his skin. It burned down around his clothing and reached up into the air above him. Harry spread his arms as if welcoming the attack. Green flames leapt up to the new sound of the air rushing into him and the scent of death that flooded the room. The bullets shuddered to a halt as they hit the flames and the ones that didn't disintegrate fell to the floor.

"Impossible!" Kinoc gasped. "Kill him!"

"That's not possible." Auron gasped in horror. Lulu was kneeling on the floor of her cage while Rikku stared in shock at the sight. "The Final Overdrive. Ultima. How is that possible?"

Tidus just watched in fascination as a wave of green flame shot along the walkway from Harry cutting through the dozen guards firing at him. They stiffened up and fell limply to the ground as their lives were taken from them. The others backed along the second walkway and Kinoc was almost standing at the edge of it to get as far away as possible. Harry walked along the platform, his body barely visible as the wind seemed to swirl the flames away from him into the shadows of the cavern, but he paused at the junction and turned his back on Kimahri and Wakka's cage to look at the remaining seven men on his level.

"Release your...your Overdrive or we'll kill the prisoners!" Kinoc sounded so desperate Tidus would have laughed if the situation was even remotely humorous. The Warrior Monks turned their guns on Lulu, Rikku, Auron and himself but Harry still didn't move until with a gust of air Tidus' world went a green colour that he never wanted to see again. The sound fled from his ears and he dropped to his knees even though when it faded he was safe and unharmed. Down on the walkway though were another six dead Warrior Monks and a trembling Kinoc.

"I think this game is over Kinoc." Harry spoke up dryly. "It was fun but we have a Pilgrimage to get back to."

Tidus looked at his boyfriend and was relieved to see him one again back to normal. The Ultima spell was once again contained as Harry slowly approached the cowering Kinoc. Harry knelt beside Kinoc and smirked. "The world is never what you hope is it, mortal?"

"Get away from me!" Kinoc tried to scramble away but found that his hand simply slipped off the side of the walkway and out into nothing. He pressed his back into the stone walkway and stared up at Harry in horror but Harry wasn't looking at him anymore. He was looking to the two doors that were emitting a veritable flood of Warrior Monks.

"Surrender yourself!" The first man along the walkway ordered as he slowly advanced on Harry.

"You missed that little show didn't you?" Harry smirked. "Perhaps I should try to do it again?"

Tidus heard the strain in Harry's voice and looked at Auron in confusion. "I doubt he could do it again." Auron told him quietly. "Nobody can cast the Final Overdrive twice within such a short time but then again it's supposed to impossible to harbour Ultima."

Tidus frowned. That mean that Harry couldn't make himself invulnerable again. Green light flared again as Harry made to lash out with another Ultima, cast normally, but a gunshot made Harry gasp and stagger forwards with his hand trying to reach his back. The spell faded from his hands and the captives stared in horror as their friend staggered to his knees not two feet from the edge of the walkway. Tidus stared at Kinoc who was lying on the ground with a gun in his hands. Harry had been too distracted to notice the Maester had gone for one of the guns lying on the walkway.

"No!" Tidus screamed and shook on the bars wishing he could get out of there. Harry had said he was immortal but who could survive a bullet in the back. "You coward!" Tidus yelled at a smug Kinoc.

Kinoc stood and walked with new confidence into the crowd of Warrior Monks filling the walkway. "Kill him!"

Harry lashed out with his magic and a ball of black and red flames leapt up from within the Warrior Monks as a Flare shook the room killing all it touched but it wasn't enough even when Harry forced himself to his feet. Blood was running down his side and leg from the bullet wound but he still brought his hands together. Green exploded back into being but it wasn't fast enough to stop the bullets which slammed into him one after another. Harry staggered backwards and the magic in his hands failed. Harry collapsed onto the walkway and just managed to turn his face to look at Tidus before he slipped backwards off of the platform and down into the shadows.

Tidus knew he was screaming and Rikku was as well. Tidus could only watch though as Harry's falling figure vanished into the shadow to meet the same fate as the Warrior Monks he'd sent tumbling down there before. "It's hopeless." Auron grabbed his shoulder to calm him. "It's a mile deep before he hits the freezing waters of the Nebra. He'll bleed to death and if he doesn't he'll be crushed by the impact. He's dead Tidus."

"He can't die!" Tidus desperately cried feeling tears on his cheeks. Even _he_ didn't believe that Harry's immortality counted for something like this. How could even an immortal body survive that.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry seemed to float in a never-ending sea of colour. It took him a moment to recognise where he was but when he did he remembered all the pain in his life. All the regret and all the sorrow. This was what had happened to him all those years ago. The first place he remembered after the Great Aeon had slept after destroying Earth. The realm that crossed through all others. That powered the lives on Spira just as it had on Earth.

The realm of those that punished the Fayths and turned them into immortal servants of the living in the way that Hermione, Ron and Neville had changed their own bodies to become more powerful. This was the realm of those that had trapped Harry into his immortal punishment.

"You have a choice." A voice whispered in his right ear but then it was gone and Harry had no recollection of who he should respond to though he didn't feel the need to respond.

It seemed like an eternity to Harry before another voice spoke far off to his left. "You choose to die and move on?" The voice mixed in with the colours and vanished.

"To end your punishment?" Another voice whispered in his left ear, full of all the hope Harry felt at the suggestion but then the voice, and Harry knew it was the same voice, took on the sound of Simon's voice. "You could come to me and be happy."

"But leave the world to fall into ruin." The first voice was back, whispering in his right ear just as it had to start with. "Sin will continue, the Spiral of Spira will continue and in time all must perish."

"But that will no longer be your punishment." Simon's voice was back in his left ear and Harry could feel the warmth bubble in his chest at the idea of letting himself die after so long. Of going to Simon and letting all his grief slide away with the man he loved so much. "You could come to me."

"But Tidus." Harry spoke softly, the words from his mouth were full of emotions that he didn't have the heart to feel anymore.

"But one mortal for an eternity in your rightful place." The second voice spoke again from off within the colours.

"The Fayths?" Harry asked.

"You owe them nothing." The second voice spoke again and Harry realised what they were doing. The voice on his right was his possibilities, the future, his conscious. The one in his left ear was what he wanted in his heart regardless of the cost to those he knew on Spira and the one off in the colours was his uncaring side. But they weren't him, they were the Power that had punished him. "They will continue until Sin in destroyed and they are freed."

"But Sin won't be destroyed without me you said!" Harry directed his voice to his right, at the one that had said about the Spiral continuing.

"They will fail without you but they will join you in death eventually." The voice replied soothingly.

"You don't have to punish yourself further, Harry." Simon's voice told him again. "But if you choose to remain you give up this chance. Never again to be offered."

"No." Harry sobbed. "I don't want to live."

"So you will allow us to let you die, to give up your place on Earth and leave Tidus behind?" The first spoke again.

"Damn you!" Harry spat. "What did I do to deserve this?"

Images flooded him from within the colours. Myst sweeping through vast Earth cities destroying people and buildings like a tidal wave. An explosion devastating oceans and a roar of power that sent the colours spiralling around him. "You can end this punishment right now by letting yourself die." Simon spoke in his ear compassionately. "Come to me. Leave Tidus and the mortals to fight their own war."

"I can't do that to Tidus." Harry gasped feeling pain at the mere mention of being bound again even just to give them a chance to defeat Sin. "It's my fault. I..."

"They attack and try to kill you." The second voice hissed from the colours again. "And you'll go back to try to spare them. You would give up your only chance to free yourself from this punishment?"

"To free my friends." Harry hissed out coming to the cinch of it. Without him, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Elizia, Zara and all the others would never be free to die and move on to where they could be with their families again. He couldn't let himself be happy until they were too even if that mean it would never happen for him.

"You stay?" Simon whispered in his ear.

"You give up happiness to give it to the others?" The first spoke.

"Yes." Harry hated himself for saying it but he had to.

The second voice snorted. "You surprise us." It told him before Harry felt pain unlike any other as his lungs gasped in air. The colours spiralled and blurred and Harry found himself staring up at the blue sky. His body screamed in pain worse than the old Cruciatus.

"I'm alive." Harry sobbed and tried to move only to find his arms broken as well as much of the rest of him. He wasn't as badly damaged as he should have been after that fall though nor was he in the right place. His head turned to look around him. He was in a side street within Bevelle lying half up against a wall. They'd placed him here and they'd probably healed most of his broken body to keep him alive. "Bastards."

Harry grabbed his right arm and in a sudden jerk he set his radius back into place and cast the strongest Curaga he could manage and then gasped again at the effort it took him.

"Harry." Simon's voice spoke up again and Harry stared up in shock at the looming ghostly figure standing just beyond Harry's limp legs. "I've only been granted a moment."

"Is it really you?" Harry asked.

"This time yes, they took me to listen to what just happened." Simon told him sadly. "Oh, Harry. I'm so sorry."

"Simon?" Harry begged. "Don't be angry at me."

"I could never be angry at you." Simon told him before crouching at his side. "It hurts me to know what you've done to yourself but I love you so much for the sacrifice."

"But you can't be happy." Harry sobbed.

"You did it for the right reason. They deserve to be able to die and be free." Simon told him. "I can still watch over you and one day Tidus will share that fate with me."

"You'll look after him once he..." Harry forced himself to finish knowing he'd have to face it given years anyway. "...dies?"

"Of course." Simon nodded. "They scream for you, Harry. All the Fayths, Harry. They begged you to choose your death but you couldn't hear them, they're all crying for you. I can feel it in my soul."

"What can I do?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, Harry, but Tidus needs you now. You don't have time to fully heal. In an hour he and the others will emerge from the Via Purifico and without you there, Seymour will kill them all and your sacrifice will be for nothing." Simon told him. "Tell Tidus what happened, Harry. He deserves to know what was sacrificed for him."

"Simon?" Harry sobbed, letting out more tears then he had in years. His chest hurt with more emotional pain than physical. "I'll never not love you."

"I'll love you always." Simon smiled a reassuring smile but the tears streaming down the ghost's face belied his true sorrow. He faded away and Harry was alone again.

"Bastards!" Harry spat. "He did nothing to deserve this!"

Harry brought forward his other arm and swiftly, and painfully, snapped it back into place before casting another Curaga, feeling his control slipping. His magic was too tired to face Seymour but he knew where he could get a focus. From the Summoner's Museum, the Jewelled Staff of the last true Summoner of Simon Kem. It was fitting.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

It took Harry rather a long time before he could get up from the ground, get the Jewelled Staff, avoid the Priest who had been outraged by the theft, and then travel to the exit of the Via Purifico, which happened to be at the base of the entrance into the Temple. What he saw as he arrived was a disaster about to happen.

Harry tugged at the hood of the dark grey robe he'd stolen to cover his state to make sure it covered his face before pulling the ornate wooden staff from within the folds. Harry had done what he could to keep him moving for the time being but he'd need care before he was up to much more. His legs and arms were working, if painfully, but the rest of him was a state. He was covered in his own blood that had seeped out after he'd escaped the river but he knew his torso was very bad.

The bleeding had stopped simply because he didn't have the blood needed to let it bleed out but the effect of eight bullet holes tore at him with every step. His leather jacket, while still in one piece, was covered in the evidence of the wounds. He'd have to do a bit of work on it after this was over.

Pulling himself back to the matter at hand Harry used the ornate staff to support him as he walked up towards the fight making a soft thudding sound every time the staff hit the ground. Wakka and Kimahri were badly wounded already and Yuna was exhausted and trying her hardest to keep the fighters going while caring for Wakka and Kimahri. Rikku was helping her as much as she could with her potions.

Lulu was having to focus solely on defending Tidus and Auron from magical attacks and she was very pale and near to exhaustion herself. Tidus was ducking, weaving and slashing and, to Harry's surprise, as he watched Tidus summoned up a reflect shield to bounce a stab of lightning back at Seymour's pet before following it up with a protect shield as Seymour send a shard of hardened ice at him which shattered again it.

Auron was biding his time waiting for the best moment to strike but that was hard against what Seymour had become. Seymour had mutated himself, sucked in the energy and magic of others to force his body to become something else. Something more dangerous and seriously unnatural. His skin was drawn back and shockingly white. A stone ring hung around his back centring the power so that Seymour could use it. Around Seymour weaved a pet of some kind which more often than not took the blows for Seymour.

Yuna stood as she saw Harry approaching and she pulled out her Summoning Rod in preparation before wincing. Harry almost felt the screaming of her Fayths within her mind as they recognised him. Harry paused beside Kimahri and Wakka and stamped the Jewelled Staff against the floor. At the top of the wooden staff was a metal cap embedded with an intricate pattern of rubies, sapphires and diamonds and they glowed in their own colour as Harry used the Staff to power a Curaga that hit the two wounded Guardians and gave more energy to Rikku and Yuna.

Kimahri forced himself to his feet and grabbed at his lance but Harry shoved his Staff in front of the Ronso to tell him to stay where he was. "Protect your Summoner. Leave this to me."

His voice was strained by the physical and emotional pain he had gone through, his voice saddened and full of emotions that Harry was still trying to fight. He knew tears still crept from his eyes but Harry ignored them in favour of concentrating on the fight. He left Kimahri to guard the others and slowly thudded his way towards the larger fight.

Seymour cast a strong Thundaga at Auron and Tidus but Lulu was too slow to counter it. Harry's Staff flashed out and the battle came to a suddenly halt as a large green shield absorbed the magic before fading. "Seymour. You overstep your bounds." Harry told him with a croaking voice that he knew made him sound like an old man. That was fine for Harry though since he didn't want the others knowing who he was yet. He didn't need them going into hysterics in the middle of Bevelle.

"Who dares!?" Seymour's voice almost dripped evil and Harry raised his staff. The wind shoved at Tidus, Auron and Lulu sending them tumbling passed and behind Harry.

Harry didn't feel up to exchanging words and raised his Staff above his head. It hummed and sung with all the power Harry had left and a chorus of humming echoed throughout the area before the Staff burst into white light that bled up into the air.

Hundreds of white orbs seemed to fall from the sky circling Seymour and trapping him within the spell before they started to circle forming sheets of white light. From within they could just make out Seymour writhing in pain as the Holy spell tore into his soul ripping into the unnaturalness of it. Seymour exploded into Pyreflies which seemed to scream as the Holy spell faded.

Harry stared at the empty space for a moment before turning to the Guardians that he couldn't bear to call his friends right now and to Tidus that only caused his throat to tighten when he looked at him. But something else caught Harry's eyes when he looked at Tidus, one of the reasons he'd objected himself to his punishment. His eyes burned with the light of the Holy spell far beyond its completion.

"Interesting." Harry couldn't meet Tidus' eyes and looked to the others who followed his gaze back to Tidus. Auron chuckled but Lulu and Rikku gasped.

"Impossible!" Lulu gasped.

"What?" Tidus growled.

"You feel the Holy spell within you." Harry spoke dryly. "Your Final Overdrive."

"That's an interesting development." Auron pointed out before turning to Harry. "Who may I ask are you?"

"I am a nobody." Harry told him. He didn't want to reveal himself yet, not until he could collapse and give into the pain in his body. "Just an old man with some skill in magic."

"My thanks to you kind Sir." Yuna performed the Prayer.

"I would pray for you, Lady Summoner, but my bones are weary and I am tired." Harry told her seriously. "You and your Guardians seem to have fallen off the track as it were."

"It wasn't our fault!" Tidus shouted at him. "They did it."

Harry looked at Tidus knowing the young man couldn't see his face. "This is not the place to discuss this." Harry told them all. "I will lead you to a safe place outside the city where you may rest until you can return to your voyage. If you are to continue your pilgrimage?"

"We will." Yuna told him.

"Please come with me." Harry started walking through them using the Jewelled Staff for support.

"No!" Tidus yelled. "We have to find Harry."

"Harry's dead, Tidus." Yuna told him and Harry saw the pain in their eyes even if most of them were forcing it aside.

"Then we should at least find his body." Tidus gasped.

"Tidus, he fell into the Nebra." Auron sighed. "His body will out to sea already."

"Come." Harry announced and started away again. Rikku walked beside Tidus and the others seemed to gravitate around them. After about a hundred yards Harry began to feel the strain this would take. He leant more heavily on the Staff secure in the knowledge that it wouldn't break. It was designed to withstand sword blows.

"Sir?" Yuna was suddenly at his shoulder with Kimahri on the other side of her and Auron on Harry's left. "Are you well?"

"Just old and tired." Harry told her. He felt Auron lift his elbow in offered support and Harry happily let some of his weight fall onto his arm using the Staff more for balance after that.

"That is the Jewelled Staff is it not?" Lulu suddenly spoke up from behind them as they left the City through the deserted gates. There was utter chaos spreading throughout the city for some reason and Harry was willing to take advantage of that.

Harry stopped as Auron came to a halt. Harry sagged down onto a trunk of a tree to rest for a moment with a deep sigh that tore at his chest. He stopped himself from breathing more than he needed to do to speak. "You are a clever one." Harry complimented. "I borrowed it from the Summoner's Museum."

"You stole it?" Wakka gasped.

"It was never theirs to begin with and I would not have been able to save you had it not been for this." Harry used it to push himself back up to his feet and Auron once again took his arm to balance him. Harry looked at a saddened Tidus who was standing away from the group except for Rikku who wouldn't leave his side. "Come, it is not much further."

Harry led them through trees to a copse of older trees within the bordering Macalania Forest where they sighed with relief and collapsed onto the ground. Harry eyed the remains of the campfire and poked it with the butt of the Staff. It leapt into flames.

"So, who are you?" Tidus snapped while Harry stood by the flames trying to warm his body.

"Tidus!" Yuna gasped. "He saved our lives."

"Harry could have saved us." Tidus grumbled. Everybody cast a regretful look at him.

"Yes, he could have." Harry spoke up leaning heavily on the Staff once more.

"What do you know of him?" Tidus glared.

"More than most." Harry laughed but whereas teasing them would be fun in normal circumstances, Harry just couldn't do it to Tidus. Harry forced a tired hand away from the Staff and shrugged off the hood of the cloak. He knew he must look like a zombie but the look that came over Tidus' face bled into Harry's heart.

"You're alive!" Tidus gasped and jumped at Harry, passing close to the fire, before hugging him. Harry groaned painfully under Tidus' arms and staggered until Tidus gasped and held him up. "Auron, help me."

Auron lifted Harry gently and led him back to the side of the fire where Harry slowly fell into a sitting position. "How are you alive?" Lulu asked.

"An Unsent?" Yuna gasped and her hand strayed to her Staff.

"No, Yuna." Harry told her. "An Unsent cannot cast Holy magic."

"That's true." Lulu spoke up and the group seemed to relax.

"I told you in the Council Chamber. I cannot be killed." Harry told them. "Kinoc made a mistake. I cannot die, ever." Pain bled from his words and tears once more filled his eyes.

"Are you ok?" Rikku asked him. "We saw..."

She trailed off and Harry gave her a soft look. "You saw me being shot once in the back, seven times in the front and then saw me fall a mile into a river that would have crushed me." Harry sighed. "I cannot be killed through any means, Rikku. No matter what."

"But why?" Yuna asked with wild eyes.

"It is my punishment." Harry told her. "I must walk this land for eternity with no reprise."

"But you said you hoped they'd one day release you!" Tidus stared at him in shock.

"You knew!" Wakka gasped and they all turned to look at Tidus.

"Tidus is aware of what I am." Harry spoke up before looking at Tidus. "I was wrong about that. I am forever stuck like this."

"How old are you?" Lulu asked the question they had all wanted to know since meeting him.

"I am not exactly sure." Harry told them with a tired sigh. "Old enough to see the creation of Sin, the destruction of Zanarkand. Old enough to have lived in Zanarkand at its height. Old enough to have seen the world destroyed several times. Two thousand or so years."

"Was what Seymour said true?" Yuna frowned. "That you know where a power that could defeat Sin is hidden?"

"Yes." Harry told her bluntly much to Tidus' shock.

"Why not let us use it?" Yuna asked. "It could forever destroy Sin."

"In a thousand years Sin has not caused as much damage as the Great Aeon caused in a single month." Harry told her. "I watched it destroy a world and was punished for eternity for allowing it to happen. I watched it destroy my home again a second time and now I will kill to keep it hidden. I will kill anybody that attempts to summon it."

"Even if we were the ones to Summon it." Yuna asked.

"Yuna." Harry shook his head. "You are willing to sacrifice your life for the Final Summoning to defeat Sin. Understand this, I am willing to sacrifice all of your lives to keep the Great Aeon dead and I'll kill anybody like Seymour who would bring it up again after my efforts to keep it buried."

They stared at him in shock but Harry was too tired to care. "Get some rest, all of you. We leave in the morning to the Calm Lands. We'll take shelter there for a while."

"Why shelter?" Wakka asked in the shocked silence from his former words.

"I cannot die but I was shot eight times and broke almost every bone in my body." Harry told him. "Why do you think I wore a cloak?"

"Harry?" Tidus uttered desperately. "Let us help?"

"No." Harry told him. He didn't want Tidus seeing him in his pain but more than that was that he was so close to breaking down. Harry forced himself to his feet and leaned on the staff once again. "I will return later. Set a watch and get some sleep."

Harry walked off into the trees with the fading sound of his Staff thudding into the ground. "What happened to him Tidus?" Lulu asked.

"He won't tell me what he did exactly but I know he's lived for thousands of years." Tidus sighed. "Watching everyone die around him except for the Fayths."

"That's why they won't fight him." Yuna suddenly understood.

"Valefor and Ifrit were some of his best friends." Tidus told her. "He grew up with them."

"How could he do that?" Rikku asked. "I mean, who could you care about?"

"He loved somebody once but he died. He told me about it before he let himself like me." Tidus ducked his head with a slight brush at admitting his and Harry's budding relationship even if the others were a bit too distracted to care.

"Who?" Wakka asked.

"Simon Kem?" Auron looked shocked even as he spoke. "Dona and Isaaru said he knew Simon Kem."

"He carried on in his name after he died so that he'd never be forgotten." Tidus told them before standing and looking in the direction Harry had gone. "I've gotta find him, help him sort out his wounds."

"We'll stay here but call us if you need any help." Rikku told him and handed him her pouch of potions.

"Tidus." Yuna quickly spoke up. "I don't know what it means but all my Aeons are screaming Harry's name. I feel their pain and sorrow about something. Something he's done. Be careful."

Tidus barely spared her a glance before rushing through the trees after Harry. He caught up to him at a deep pool of water in the spring. Harry was lying on his back staring up at the stars but even in the dark of the approaching night Tidus could see the shaking of his sobs and the tears running down his face. Tidus lay down beside him and gently took his hands in his own knowing that somewhere under that cloak was nasty wounds that would need attention. "Harry, what happened to you?"

"Tidus?" Harry turned to look at him. "I'm so sorry."

"For what, you saved us!" Tidus propped himself up and leaned on his elbow beside Harry. Harry focused on him with blood shot eyes.

"I've given you the same fate as Simon. I saw him after..." Harry rethought his words before starting again. "I saw his ghost, he's so sad and lonely and I'll never be able to go to him now. And you'll have the same fate, if we stay together you'll have to watch me down here for the rest of eternity."

"I'd rather have this then worry about that." Tidus told him. "And I'd never blame you for any pain that causes after I die. This isn't your decision, it's whoever trapped you here."

"No Tidus." Harry grabbed the back of his neck and held it tightly. "Not anymore. Now it's my decision. They gave me a choice, I could have died in Bevelle, they offered me an end but I chose to stay because of the other Fayths. Without me they are stuck here and I chose them over Simon's happiness."

"That's why they're screaming at you?" Tidus asked remembering what Yuna had told him.

"Yuna can hear it?" Harry asked before he sagged. "My punishment can't be over until theirs is but before there was always the chance _they'd_ forgive me but now that chance has gone. It really is eternal now."

Tidus sighed and dropped his head down next to Harry neck. "Oh Harry."

Harry sobbed and pushed his face into Tidus' hair. "God, I'm sorry Simon."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	10. Dreaming

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 10; Dreaming

**Macalania Woods**

Tidus spent several hours slowing stripping Harry's torso and using potions and old fashioned first aid to close the wounds. Harry had promised that the internal wreckage wouldn't cause him more than pain and that after a few days worth of internally turned Curagas he'd be back to his old self. He'd be weak for a few days probably and in a bit of pain for more but Harry was used to pain and he knew when he could pamper it and when to push through it.

Tidus was gone when Harry finally awoke the next morning and rather than showing the group his extremely bloodless face he donned the brown cloak of before and pulled it over his head. He walked back to where the group had made their camp with the aid of the Jewelled Staff once more and as he walked into the clearing all eyes turned to him. Rikku and Lulu sat with the supplies sorting them out into three manageable packs while Wakka and Auron were talking quietly with each other. Kimahri, unsurprisingly, was at the path that led to the main track.

"Where are Yuna and Tidus?" Harry asked, glad that his voice was back to normal.

"Yuna go to think." Kimahri told him.

"Tidus went to find her." Rikku told him.

"What is she thinking about?" Harry asked as he moved closer to the fire and reached out bloodless hands to warm himself. It was the major problem with bleeding out, not only did it make his movement painful but he was very cold all the time. He saw Rikku's eyes widen and she hurried to grab his hands in her own. Harry leant his elbow on the staff to take his own weight.

"I think she wonders about her place in the Pilgrimage." Auron told him eyeing his hands as well.

"What happened to your hands?" Rikku asked.

"I have eight holes in my torso and she wants to know about my hands." Harry chuckled. "It's an unfortunate side effect of not having any blood. Blood circulates heat and thus I'm cold."

"How can you still be alive?" Wakka gasped.

"That's the problem isn't it." Harry told him bluntly. "The rest of me is just as pale but at least my wounds are healing. In a few days I'll be able to fight as I once did. For now though I must use what magic I can spare to heal my internal injuries. We won't venture into Gagazet until I'm healed though. There is no point sacrificing safety for speed."

"I had hoped to pass through the Ronso clans before word of our betrayal to Yevon reached them." Auron told him.

"I saw the Ronso party leaving Bevelle before I came to find you. They'll be home by this afternoon." Harry sighed. "I would rather confront them at the gates and convince them to let us through than having them hunting us for the entire trip through the mountains."

"I hope you are right." Auron nodded.

"It's not a matter of being right." Harry shook his head. "We have no choice."

"That's always the best decider." Auron nodded.

"But it is normally the cause of all bad decisions." Harry eyed Auron and knew the man had seen his challenging stare. Before anything else could be said Tidus and Yuna ran back into the camp together. Yuna looked a bit embarrassed and Tidus looked just as strained but Harry let it go. He trusted Tidus but he'd also known that Yuna had a thing for Tidus ever since the start. He was too old to be the jealous type. They came up short when they saw Harry. "Before we start I will say this only once. There will be no further discussion about this power Seymour was hunting. You can think about it all you like but it's not to be spoken of again. It was a bad idea when it was created and nothing has changed."

Yuna nodded but she didn't seem perfectly ready to forget it. He looked around the group one last time before looking back at Yuna. "Are you ready to finish your pilgrimage or has Yevon destroyed that desire?"

Yuna nodded her head. "I'm ready. The reason behind this is still there even if Yevon isn't."

Harry nodded even though he knew that her reason was that one day they'd be rid of sin if only they fought hard enough and for long enough. It was a reason that Harry agreed with, Sin wasn't immortal like Harry was, it was only that it's heart and magic was refreshed every time it was killed. Auron knew the truth as well even if they both hid it, even from their own friends.

"We move out soon." Auron told them. "We'll cross the first half of the Calm lands today and stay at the Al-bhed way station. As things are in Bevelle not many would risk stopping at a place owned by an Al-bhed."

"Agreed." Harry nodded. "They won't expect the party to stop so close either so any tracking parties will likely ignore it and look deeper into Macalania. If we stay there for a few days to heal then we'll have an easier time of it and there is a couple of stops I'd like to make within the Calm Lands for Yuna's sake. One will have to wait until I am healed and the other Yuna will have to train for."

"What are they?" Yuna asked.

"Both are Aeons." Harry told them and continued as Wakka, Auron and Rikku hefted the packs and they began to prepare. He'd be honest this time. "While I didn't outright lie before in my wording, I omitted certain details. The Final Summoning is not the most powerful Summon, it is second. I know not where Anima, the fourth is, yet the third, the Magus Sisters, and the fifth, Yojimbo, are within the Calm Lands."

"Do we have time to divert?" Auron asked.

"It would be foolish not to gain these Aeons, Auron." Harry told him. "They are immensely powerful yet gaining either is not easy. While I can help you gain Yojimbo, Yuna must gain the sisters herself."

"Well we can decide on all this later." Lulu announced clearly unhappy with the conversation topic which didn't surprise Harry at all. Harry nodded and pulled himself up to place his weight on the Jewelled Staff. Tidus came up to his left, close enough to steady him if needed and offer his support but not close enough to upset Harry's balance.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Calm Lands**

Harry paused as they walked out of the forest and onto the edge of the cliff that was almost a wall that bordered the northern edge of Macalania Woods. The group came to a halt at the spectacular vista before them. Vast plains stretched out before them, easily several days travelling distance while to the left a giant crack ran across the plains before they continued off to the left to a distance shimmer of ocean. Opposite them was the Gagazet mountains, a dark shadow on the northern horizon.

"This is the Calm Lands." Harry told Tidus loud enough for everyone to her. "Traditionally Summoners face Sin here and bring about the Calm. There are no human towns north of this point. Only the Ronso in their mountains."

"Was this always open land?" Tidus asked.

Harry paused and realised they were all looking at him. "It's hard to trace it back that far." Harry told them. "It wasn't a shift in land but a complete rewriting of the world. But when Zanarkand was at its height this was the no-mans land between Bevelle and Zanarkand."

Auron led the party down a thin path that led down the cliff face and Kimahri had to help Harry navigate the path in his weakened state. As they approached the ground the difference between the northern plains and the lands below Bevelle became clear. The Fiends here were fierce and they swarmed the area.

"They are attracted to the area because of the number of times Sin has been destroyed here. They are more powerful this time around because this is where Braska defeated sin." Harry told them all. "It also makes it slightly more secure. Sin doesn't normally approach the place of his last defeat."

It was a painfully hard trip across the plains. Harry led them towards the rift in the ground and then north towards a pylon sticking up from behind a group of small hills. The Fiends here were hard to defeat, requiring the hardest of strikes or the most powerful of magic, especially the elementals.

Harry only really helped out when they were in trouble but Tidus' new sword was well suited for facing the elementals since they were fire and ice both of which the Shifting Glacier could seriously hurt. Yuna took care of most of the healing but Harry's expertise with curing ailments quite common to the Calm Lands made him invaluable. Even with his less than active role, when they eventually reached the Al-bhed way-station Harry was happy to simply ask for a room and stumble into it to rest. It was still early afternoon but Tidus followed him into the room and helped him strip down and clean off his wounds.

Harry exhausted himself casting healing spells but felt his body move more towards being complete once more. He slept away the rest of the day and night and woke up with a naked Tidus curled up to his side as the sun rose the next day. He waited for Tidus to wake up before he turned another round of internal Curagas on himself.

"You're looking better." Tidus told him. Harry glanced down at the back of a raised hand. His skin was looking a little healthier and his previously non-existent veins were a pale blue colour.

"With my wounds closed my body will start recovering my blood." Harry told him.

"I hate seeing you like this." Tidus told him.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Honestly?" Tidus asked after a moment. "Because it makes me think I'm not good enough for you."

Harry laughed suddenly and had trouble keeping the grin off his face. "Sorry. I shouldn't laugh." Harry told an offended looking Tidus. "It's just if anything I'm not good enough for you."

"That's stupid." Tidus shook his head with his own little grin. "You're immortal."

"Being immortal isn't as impressive as you'd think." Harry told him before reaching out with cold hands. One hand settled on the exposed skin of Tidus' chest between his jacket and the other came around to hold the back of his neck. He leaned in and kissed Tidus lightly on the lips. Tidus' hands came up to the zip of Harry's leather vest and pulled it down so his hands could rest on Harry's cold chest. Harry pulled away but held Tidus' face only inches from his own. "All the years mean nothing if you have nobody to spend them with."

Tidus smiled and kissed him once more, briefly. "We'd better go find the others. Auron wants to begin training as soon as possible."

Harry and Tidus made themselves more presentable and made their way out of the room. Now that Harry was in better shape he wore his normal clothing. He looked rather ill with his pale features and his red leather vest was a bit worse for wear but there was only his own team and the small Al-bhed family that lived here to notice it. They found the others outside the main entrance. Because of the way-station's strange design the rooms were built back inside one of the hills while the main desk sat recessed and a large canopy of sturdy metal and canvas stretched out over the communal area.

They all gaped at him as he and Tidus walked out into the sun. "Yes, I'm aware I look rather out of sorts." Harry chuckled.

"Will you come with us to train?" Auron asked.

"I'm sure I'm not needed." Harry told him. "I need to mend my vest and I'll start getting our supplies sorted out. There are things in our packs we'll no longer need and we'll need warmer wear and tents. All the same have Tidus or Lulu send up an exploding fire spell if you get into trouble."

Harry watched them go after they'd eaten a breakfast cooked by the Al-bhed and then settled down in the sun and stripped off his leather vest and got himself a needle and thread so he could repair the gun shot damage.

He had a good conversation with Gent, the eldest of the three boys that lived at the way-station with their parents. Gent, who was eighteen years old, was an expert on the Calm Land's terrain and fiends and he talked for hours about all of it. Harry knew it all but he let Gent talk since the young man was obviously glad to have somebody that spoke Al-bhed fluently to talk to.

Tidus returned late that evening along with the others and after a hot meal at the way-station Tidus and Harry found their room once more.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Two days later**

Harry sat waiting for the others to awaken. He was almost fully healed now with only the odd bit of pain from his chest at odd moments, he was easily well enough for them to continue their journey but there was the Aeon's to gather first. If Yuna was ready.

Tidus was the first to join him since they'd risen at the same time but Tidus had lingered in the shower for a while. He sat beside Harry and leaned into his side. Their displays had become rather common place with the others and not even Yuna was surprised at them anymore. "Harry, can I ask you a question about the past?" Tidus asked after a moment.

"Sure." Harry shrugged.

"I wanted to know about Bahamut." Tidus frowned. "Did you know each other?"

"I know all of the Fayths, Tidus." Harry told him. "Except for Anima."

"I mean before he became a Fayth." Tidus pressed.

"Yes." Harry told him and leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees. "I lived in Zanarkand for four hundred years. That time was split into two different times. I helped build the city after the Great Cataclysm and then I travelled before I returned there. People knew I was immortal then. I was too well known to ever hide what I was. But still, they normally respected my privacy. I normally had a Mage apprentice or even a Summoner apprentice that I trained. During the war an unarmed transport ship was ambushed by a Bevelle ship and sunk along with all of the people on board except for two. I survived along with a three year old boy called Christopher."

"What happened?" Tidus gasped.

"We drifted for several days. I wasn't at any risk but Christopher weakened with every day until a Zanarkadian ship found us." Harry explained. "Christopher nearly died but I nursed him back to health and he became attached to me. It's hard to say whether I became his father or his older brother but either way a bond was formed. I raised him and when he turned twelve he became a Summoner. Stronger than any I had seen before. The Fayths loved him dearly."

"Why was he so upset at seeing you?" Tidus asked.

Harry stood and turned away feeling unshed tears in his eyes. "They all knew about the Great Aeon back then and they knew I protected it with my life. Christopher knew this yet when the war was lost all the Summoners joined together and summoned the Great Aeon hoping that in numbers they could control it. I told them they couldn't, that nothing could but they didn't listen to me. Christopher didn't listen to me and because they didn't everything was destroyed."

"So you hate Christopher for that?" Tidus asked from his place still sitting on the bench.

"I could never truly hate Christopher, Tidus." Harry told him. "I love Christopher like a brother or son but it is hard not to feel hurt. In time they might have forgiven me for my first involvement but when I failed to stop them the second time it was my fault."

"What could you have done?" Tidus asked. "Kill them all?"

"What is a few hundred compared to ten million?" Harry asked and Tidus recoiled. "That is the approximate number that died in the second Cataclysm."

"So you were right about the Great Aeon still being the worse evil." Tidus sighed. "Sin can't have killed that many."

"No. Sin can't." Harry sighed. "But the Great Aeon killed more Tidus. You know your history. How many people were killed in the Great Cataclysm?"

"Two thirds of the population." Tidus whispered.

"Do you know how many _people_ that is Tidus?" Harry pushed relentlessly. He turned to look at Tidus who shook his head. "Almost four billion."

Tidus gulped painfully. "I'm sorry, Harry."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Tidus." Harry shook his head. "You can't choose your past."

"Something's always confused me." Tidus spoke up after a moment's silence. "You keep saying that everybody knew who you were but if I'm from Zanarkand in the past how come I've never heard of you."

"Oh, Tidus." Harry dropped his head and rubbed at his face with his hands. "It won't be long now and you'll know why. I just can't tell you yet."

"Why not?" Tidus demanded.

Harry turned damp eyes on Tidus. "It's too hard."

"What are you guys talking about?" Rikku yelled making Harry turn back to the scenery so they didn't see his tears. Tidus turned to take in the entire group coming out of their rooms.

"Nothing." Tidus told them.

"Yuna?" Harry asked without looking at her. "Are you satisfied with the power of your Aeons?"

"I think so." Yuna frowned.

"They know what I'm talking about." Harry pressed, still looking out over the horizon. "Do any of them say that you're not ready? Don't lie."

"They say I can do it." Yuna told him.

"Very well then. It's a four hour hike to the Remiem Temple and that's without fighting Fiends on the way." Harry told her as he turned his head slightly to the right. "Save your strength, you'll need it to fight her."

"Her?" Yuna asked.

"She's old." Harry told her. "Though not as old as me."

With that they set off south east of the way station. Harry slowly brought himself back up to working order with his sword and agility, using all his abilities to their fullest shocking even Auron who looked more nervous than before. Harry coached both Lulu and Tidus in magic and Tidus in swordsmanship, pushing Tidus' Overdrives, making him use his Initiate, Divergent and even pushing his Soul Overdrive until after several hours he managed it in a blinding burst of white light that blasted through a dozen nearby Fiends.

Harry was proud of Tidus' progress, he was becoming a natural warrior and he was already learning mid-level spells from Harry and Lulu while he was sparring at every moment against Wakka, Kimahri, Auron and even Harry. Harry also had learnt over the last few days that Rikku was teaching him some of her tricks too. Wakka, Lulu and Yuna were a bit peeved at the idea of Tidus learning such underhanded tricks but in Harry's opinion there was nothing wrong with any method of fighting if it left you the victor. Well, in most cases, using human shields or capturing an enemy's loved ones as hostages were against his rules.

Harry stopped the group about ten miles east of the path they'd come down on their way into the Calm Lands and without a comment he began climbing the cliff. Tidus began following him without question though the others hung back. Harry reached a small ledge barely large enough for a single person to fit on and then slipped seemingly through the rock. He paused a few inches through the tight squeeze at a very slightly larger space and waited for Tidus to catch up. Tidus paused at the entrance before turning sideways to follow Harry in.

As Tidus reached him Harry pulled him in front of him, having to squeeze Tidus tightly against his front for Tidus to fit passed him. Tidus ground back for a moment to tease him and Harry bit lightly on his ear. "Stay in this bit while I go tell the others to follow us. We'll have to swap so I can lead again and this is the only part large enough for anybody to pass."

Tidus nodded and let Harry slide back along the passageway back to the entrance. He leaned over the side to see Rikku, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri and Auron looking up at them. "You guys are going to have to come up but this passageway is very narrow so leave your packs and Kimahri, it's a good thing your smaller than a normal Ronso, but still you're going to have to breathe in."

Harry waited until Rikku was halfway up the wall before he slipped back into the crack and lingered only long enough to tease Tidus on his way passed him. He stayed still until Rikku, then Wakka and finally Yuna had joined them in the passage before Harry continued edging sideways, having an easier time navigating the tunnel than Auron, Wakka and especially Kimahri. The girls and Tidus all had it easy and Harry's only trouble was when his sword handle or the Jewelled Staff tied to his sheath caught onto something over his head. Tidus helped him out at times though and everybody had to lend a hand to each other in the course of the hundred metre shuffle through the passageway that twisted twice leaving them in darkness.

When Harry's hands lost track of the wall to his sides he stopped. Tidus bumped straight into him and a few seconds later Harry heard Tidus whisper an apology to Rikku when she squeaked at walking into him. He waited until he heard Auron warn Kimahri they had stopped before he spoke up. "I'm going to cast a fire spell, watch your eyes. Kimahri, get that?"

He got a grunt in return and held up his left hand into open air and cast a fire spell. Red light burst into being lighting up a vast darkness around them that Tidus tried to see passed him. Harry turned to looked at first Tidus and then all of them down through the tight passageway before he turned back to light a small recess on the right of the entrance and then the left. He snuffed out his own spell just as fire streamed away along the walls of the cavern, splitting away at intervals to reach down to the centre of the cavern until, just when the lines would have met at the back, fire exploded up around the centre lighting up a beautiful hanging temple like building. It hung from the roof of the cavern on massive chains.

"What is this place?" Yuna gasped from back along the passageway. Harry eyed the chain bridge that led from the entrance across to the Temple and then stepped out onto it. With a flex of his legs he jumped up a couple of feet and landed with a thud. The chain bridge shuddered but held strongly.

"Harry!?" Tidus yelped at him.

"I was just testing it." Harry shrugged. "All of you come out, it's sturdy enough."

"So who built this place?" Yuna asked.

"This is Remiem Temple. The cavern was found several hundred years before the Bevelle-Zanarkand war and used to great affect for insurgents after the Bevelle forces had pushed into no-mans land. The Temple was built after the war by a band of rather successful criminals. The three sisters that led the group did many unspeakable things including the plaguing of ten small villages over a dispute about tributes." Harry lectured as they slowly walked over the bridge. "For the thousands they killed they were punished and the triple Fayth of the Magus Sisters was formed. They have since attuned for their crime but I shall pity their sentence only after those that don't deserve their fate are freed."

"Like you?" Wakka asked. It was the first time he had asked Harry about his own punishment.

"My crime was worse than theirs." Harry said simply just as they reached the hanging Temple. "We will be able to accompany Yuna only until she declares her intent to fight then we must leave. Yuna must do this alone if she is to wield the sisters."

"Valefor believes I have it in me to win." Yuna told him seriously.

"Then I have no doubt. She was always the smartest of my friends when we were children." Harry nodded.

"That's just so weird." Wakka grunted.

"Try ignoring their screams at Harry." Yuna sighed. "They've been screaming at you for days, Harry. What did you do?"

Harry grunted and turned away. "Yuna, please don't ask that again." Tidus pleaded.

Harry turned back as if the conversation hadn't happened. "You may be very weak after the joining and I doubt you'll be capable of summoning the Sisters just yet but they'll be invaluable later."

Harry walked up the stairs up to the doors and pushed his way through them. As soon as they were open fire ran through them and lit up the inside. What had seemed to be a complex Temple turned out to only be a shell with one large, highly decorated, room within. In the centre of the room stood a figure dressed in green, with an elaborate headdress.

"Lady Belgemine!" Yuna gasped and bowed hurriedly.

Instead of responding, Belgemine drew her staff and swirled it to point at the ground, she bowed over it deeply. Harry bowed back since no other in the group could be saluted that way. "Sir Guardian." Belgemine said as she straightened up.

"Lady Belgemine, it is a pleasure to once again look upon you." Harry told her charmingly. "I heard from the others that you have been guiding this Summoner and it both pleases and concerns me that you stand on this line still."

She smiled at him but didn't respond to his cryptic statement that clearly confused the others. She turned and bowed the normal prayer to Yuna. "I apologise for my rudeness, Lady Yuna, but some courtesies must be honoured regardless of the presence of such a Summoner as yourself."

"You know each other?" Yuna asked.

Harry turned glittering eyes on her. "Belgemine took the task to guard this Temple when she failed to complete her Pilgrimage. She tests passing Summoners and decides whether they have the strength to wield the Sisters."

"I would have come out for you but when I did I saw Sir Guardian Harry amongst you." She told them.

"How long have you been here?" Tidus asked and saw Harry tense.

"Perhaps it would be easier to show you?" Belgemine offered and after a moment Pyreflies burst from around her, spiralling around her lazily before fading.

"When I said she failed to complete her Pilgrimage I meant only that Sin defeated her." Harry sighed. "I cannot stand with Summoners at the last."

"You were her Guardian?" Wakka asked.

"Almost five hundred years ago." Harry told him. "She was a brilliant summoner, worthy of the title High Summoner."

"That is a title only deserved by those who defeat Sin." Belgemine sighed.

"You forget who it was that named Lady Yunalesca as a High Summoner of Spira." Harry pointed out.

"Don't you mean High Summoner of Yevon?" Wakka asked.

"Not before Yevon took charge of the Pilgrimage." Harry snapped rather harshly before turning to Belgemine again. "Perhaps it is time to test Yuna?"

"Let us see if she is truly worthy of the Magus Sisters." Belgemine nodded.

Harry jerked his head at the others and led them from the room. Harry closed the doors and sat down at the top of the steps with a sigh. Tidus sat between his legs a step below him and Harry took the unvoiced offer to hug him. The others eyed them for a moment but moved to sit around as well. "You want to talk?" Tidus asked quietly.

Harry sighed but smiled down at his upturned head. "I knew Belgemine as a girl. Like Christopher, her parents died. Belgemine and her brother, Joshua, were placed in an Orphanage just outside Luca. The orphanage burnt down when they were eight and the two evaded the authorities to live on the streets. Joshua was caught stealing food from a shop and was locked up. The punishment for stealing food back then was death. Being eight, they may have gotten away with a slap on the wrist or a week in the stockade." Harry laughed. "I had a good standing in Luca at the time and I spoke for Joshua and had him released into my custody. I intended to leave them with a friend of mine but they made me laugh and they were so full of energy."

Harry paused to look around and saw that they were all looking at him. A loud crash from behind him made him grin. The fight within was clearly in full swing. "I took them into my house and raised them and eventually took them with me when I moved to Kilika, partly to keep Joshua out of danger. When Belgemine was fourteen she became a Summoner's apprentice in the Kilika Temple." Harry dropped his head for a moment. "I threatened to pull her out. I didn't want her to become a Summoner and we argued about it for the three years of her training."

"When she finally qualified, Belgemine announced that Joshua would be her Guardian. I didn't react as well as they hoped." Harry met Auron's eyes and for a moment they shared a pain that the others didn't understand. "I forbade them to go but they snuck out in the middle of the night and boarded the ship to Besaid to retrieve Valefor. I mean they were both skilled. I'd trained them both in fighting and magic but I didn't want to see..." Harry sighed and shook his head. "You know what I didn't want."

"What did you do?" Rikku asked.

"I did what any stubborn parent would do." Harry laughed suddenly. "I trailed them and protected them without their knowledge. I didn't want to admit to being wrong. In the end Shiva betrayed me to them, in full truth of what I was. From then on I accepted what they wanted to do and I joined them on their Pilgrimage. I was pretending to be Simon at the time and the Pilgrimage is easier with a star to lead the way through all the cities."

"So Belgemine died?" Lulu asked quietly.

"Her Final Summoning would have been strong enough but she was overwhelmed without Joshua at her side and killed before she could cast it." Harry sighed again.

"What happened to Joshua?" Wakka pushed. Harry flinched so violently it was like he'd been slapped. Auron, he noticed, had winced as well, knowing the truth even though Harry hid it.

"He died in Zanarkand." Harry told them with an emotionless voice.

"Perhaps it is time for me to join my twin." Belgemine spoke quietly from behind Harry making them all jump, including Harry.

Harry stood and turned to her just as the doors opened and an exhausted looking Yuna walked out. Kimahri moved to hold her up. "Do you wish to be sent?" Harry asked quietly.

"If Yuna would do it." Belgemine nodded.

"I would be honoured." Yuna nodded.

"Belgemine." Harry sighed and hugged her. She hugged him back. "You have done more in the five hundred years than any other Summoner, whether they defeated Sin or not. I name you High Summoner of Spira. Please, give my love to Joshua. I'm sorry I won't be able to join you."

As Harry stepped back Belgemine shut her eyes to hide her tears. "Goodbye, Uncle." She told him quietly. Yuna stepped in and with practiced ease she Sent Belgemine.

"So the true punishment of your Immortality becomes clear." Auron spoke up in the tense silence.

"Try to keep your amusement to yourself." Harry snapped before he could stop himself. He turned away from the others and crossed the bridge towards the entrance. With practiced ease he was through the passageway and back out onto the Plains. The others took longer and by the time they caught up with him he was long gone. It was a long time before Tidus gave up on ripping into Auron for his words.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The group didn't need to try hard to follow Harry, nor did they need to wonder if Auron's words had pissed him off or not. They could follow the trail of dead fiends rather easily. When they came across the carcass of a ten foot long lizard that Tidus could have almost called a Dragon there was many a pale face. It brought back their memories of what Harry had done to Seymour's Aeon in the Luca Stadium, it reminded them just how ruthless Harry really was.

Auron assessed matters and decided that they could reach the northern edge of the Calm Lands by night fall if they hurried. They could camp out before they entered the foot hills of the Gagazet Mountains and then hope that Harry found them. They needn't have worried as in the middle of the night Harry slipped into Tidus' tent and curled up with him for the night.

The others found him sitting at the edge of the previous night's camp fire in the morning but nothing was said about his disappearing act the day before. "There's a group of Guado Sentries blocking the road ahead." Harry told him as they broke down their camp with practiced efficiency, though the tents took a bit of work.

"How many?" Auron asked.

"I was tempted to kill them last night." Harry told him in way of answering.

"That's not helpful to estimate numbers." Tidus laughed.

"It would have been over in seconds." Harry laughed. "Though they have an old War Drone with them that could slow us a bit but a few spells to crack it's armour and it'll go down as fast as the sentries do."

"We have little choice." Auron shook his head. They packed the rest of their gear up quickly and Harry led them off the Plains and into the ravines that snaked up through the foothills. It wasn't long before they arrived at a set of footbridges blocked by three Guado Sentries and the War Drone.

Harry kept walking towards them without even pulling out his sword. Tidus wasn't so cavalier and he drew the Shifting Glacier with a hiss of ice against metal. The air took a chill as the sword read from Tidus' motions.

"You really think the three of you and this contraption can face all of us?" Harry asked loudly before the sentries could speak. They blanched at the sight of him and Harry knew that if the Guado could go pale they could. Harry found it rather ironic that the Guado were currently his greatest enemies and it had been he that had created them.

"We bring summons from Maester Seymour to Lady Yuna!" One of them yelled back after a moment. "She must come with us."

"The Guado have given up their rights to order us." Harry snapped. "Step aside."

"I have nothing to discuss with Maester Seymour!" Yuna shouted.

"Yeah!" Tidus waved his sword. "So out of our way!"

"Maester Seymour's commands must be obeyed!" The Guado cried as if what they had said was blasphemy. Harry then remembered that to disobey a summons from a Maester was just that. "You will come! I warn you, the Maester doesn't need you alive!"

"You seem to have forgotten that the Warrior Monks seem to have already tried to kill me." Harry laughed and twisted forwards with practiced skill. He drew his sword and sent it flying. The Guado that had been giving them orders didn't even get a chance to dodge before Harry's sword sliced his head clean from his shoulders before lodging in the post that held up the bridge. Pyreflies leaked from his neck even as the body slumped to the ground twitching.

Lulu sent a Death spell through the air but the two Guado dodged behind the War Drone and Lulu wasn't skilled enough to cast it when she couldn't even see her target. "Tidus, touch the sword to the ground and think of turning the ground under the Drone to ice." Harry told him from his side. The entire group were keeping their distance from the Drone trying to find a weakness. Harry already knew it though. They were weak on uneven or slippery ground though deadly in a staged battle on flat ground.

Tidus didn't question him and touched the tip of the white ice sword to the ground and barely had to concentrate before tongues of ice slid across the ground freezing the earth and forming a thick sheet of solid ice across it. It spread under the Drone's feet and Harry made his move.

He darted forward sending a powerful time curse at it to fix it in a bubble that ran at about half the outside speed. It's movements slowed even as it stepped forwards to meet Harry. It's first step ended in chaos though as its stone and metal foot couldn't find a firm grip. It pitched back as an auto-correct took over but only ended up tipping backwards, crushing one of the remaining Guado soldiers who was too slow to get out from under it.

Harry jerked his sword out of the post and levelled it at the last Guado standing who rather than surrendering lashed out with a stream of Fira. Harry hit the button on the handle of his sword and it shimmered with ice before Harry brought it between him and the oncoming attack. The flames licked around the sword and steam rose above Harry. He could have used his Bracer to nullify the spell but that wasn't so impressive. When the steam cleared Harry was in a defensive position yet his opponent was down. Harry winced at the sight of the side of the Guado's head. It was mashed into ribbons and Wakka's spiked Blitzball sat on the floor beside it. That really couldn't have been pleasant.

Harry turned back to the battle to see Tidus using his sword to good use as he iced the Drone's armour to make it brittle before breaking into its arms and legs. The Drone's shoulder plating was already broken apart and Harry took the opportunity to kill it quickly. While the others distracted it Harry boosted a jump with Aero magic and charged his sword with his Lightning element before bringing the tip of his sword down and driving it straight down through its brittle shoulder armour and into its core.

No sooner had he touched down on the ground the Drone collapsed backward. "We really don't want to stay here. Hurry." Harry took them over the bridge and jogged up the ravine. He stopped only when the ground shook and a blast of hot air struck them in the back. The others turned to see the debris of the Drone flung about across the ravine and a column of oily smoke rising up the ravine towards them. "I always did like watching them explode that way."

"You're strange, man." Wakka eyed him.

"You be two thousand and be normal, Wakka." Harry pointed out before turning to head up the ravine and away from the thick smoke. He led them through a couple of twists and finally to a second bridge but instead of crossing it like everybody had expected, including Auron, he turned along the gorge until he began to climb down into the bottom. There was a small stream at the bottom that licked at his ankles and he waited in the stream as the others followed him down.

"This is the top end of the scar that cuts through the Calm Lands. We need to follow this almost as far as the Calm Lands but we'll probably run across a small training camp." Harry told them. "Normally they are Freemen, unconcerned with the political world, they train here and trade with passersby on occasion. Even so I'll wear my cloak and I suggest Yuna wears one too. Somebody in Bevelle might have given our descriptions to them and paid them to capture us."

"So we just walk straight through?" Tidus asked as Harry pulled out his previous brown hooded cloak and a smaller pale cream one that he'd dirtied up a little after buying it from the Al-bhed way-station. Harry donned his own and strapped his sword and staff over the top while Yuna pulled her own on over her own staff to hide that she was a Summoner.

"This time yes, we'll pay for lodgings tonight on the way back to the route." Harry told them.

"Tonight?" Wakka gasped. "It's not even mid morning yet."

"It'll take most of the day to do what we are here to do." Lulu spoke quietly and Harry looked at her sadly.

"I'm sorry about this, Lulu." Harry told her. "If you wish to stay at the camp we can feign that you were injured and you can pretend to recover there while we go on."

"I failed once." Lulu told him. "I won't shirk my duties to protect Yuna."

"So be it." Harry nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Tidus asked.

Harry cuffed him on the back of the had lightly. "Mind your own business. You'll find out in time."

Harry walked beside Yuna with Tidus on the other side so it didn't look so strange that they wore cloaks. They looked every part the monks of Yevon that Harry had hoped and the others looked just like their escort so, even though they garnered some interest from the camp, they were ignored as they passed through it. Auron briefly exchanged a few words with a couple of men from the camp, very much mercenaries, saying that they'd be paying for lodgings on the way back through that night and that if the camp had supplies that they needed they would acquire those also.

As they walked on Harry noticed that Lulu became more and more nervous about their destination and Wakka hung at her side worriedly. Yuna looked like she wanted to rush to her side and it was easily clear which of the party knew what had happened. Lulu was in front of Harry when they reached a large cave entrance and she stopped the group and turned to face the rather daunting entrance.

"Where are we?" Rikku asked nervously.

"The Fayth is inside, as are the Fiends." Lulu told them without turning to look at any of them.

"Hey, is this where...?" Wakka stumbled to a stop in horror that he'd even started asking the question.

"Where what?" Tidus asked from beside Harry.

"The Summoner I guarded on my first pilgrimage died here." Lulu sighed.

"I found Lulu collapsed on the Calm Lands, wounded and exhausted. I took her with me to the Al-bhed way-station and from there we travelled together back to Besaid. That was the last time that I was out in the world." Harry told them. "I stayed in Besaid after that."

"Five years ago." Lulu sighed.

"You have come a long way since then." Harry told her kindly.

"Yuna, we should go." Lulu turned to the Summoner with new resolve. "The Fayth awaits."

"And he's probably rather bored." Harry laughed. "It's been eight years since I've seen him."

They headed into the cave which instantly began to slope downwards. It also began twisting and turning in an elaborate way that confused almost all that came down here. The other rather dramatic thing about the cave was the lingering Pyreflies and the skeletal remains of people in shadowed corners.

"What's a Fayth doing in a place like this?" Rikku asked.

"Don't ask me." Tidus gasped out as he edged into Harry's side away from a trio of skeletons.

"They say it was stolen from a Temple long ago." Lulu told them and looked to Harry but Auron spoke up first.

"With no Fayth the Summoners cannot trial." Auron told them. "Without training they cannot summon the Final Aeon. Without the Final Aeon they cannot defeat Sin."

"'Cause then the Summoners won't die!" Rikku jumped on the spot happily.

"That must be what the thief was thinking." Wakka pointed out logically.

"I kinda agree with him." Tidus sighed but looked at Harry. They all were, they wanted the real reason why the thief had taken the Fayth.

Harry started laughing. "I have no idea. I never knew Joel, Yojimbo always said that he just wanted the peace and quiet but I doubt that excuse."

"Joel?" Wakka gaped at him.

"The thief's name." Harry grinned in amusement but rolled forwards without warning when a horned Nidhogg, like a giant lizard, lurched out of a shadow with its jaws aimed for his throat. Harry was barely back on his feet when it screeched to a halt and leapt for Kimahri who sent it flying into the cave wall with a bloody strike from his halberd. It yelped and Auron jumped for it and put his sword straight through its neck to kill it instantly.

"They tend to do that a lot in here." Harry pointed out dryly as he shucked off his cloak so he was more prepared to fight. He drew his sword and held it lightly to his side. The others copied him but Harry paused when he saw Lulu, looking rather pale. He'd always intended to give her something before they went much further but this place was as good a place as any. "Wait up." Harry called and the group stopped before it could start moving.

"What is it?" Yuna asked nervously.

"Lulu, your focus is looking a bit exhausted." Harry pointed out.

"I only need it for the high level magic." Lulu told him determinedly.

Harry twisted his shoulder and reached back to pull the Jewelled Staff out of its bindings. "I never saw the point of those little focuses, they're not as powerful and you can't defend yourself physically with them. Try this for a while."

Lulu's eyes widened. "But that's Lady Grace's Staff. It was used to defeat Sin!"

"Trust me when I say I doubt she'd mind." Harry chuckled.

"Was she your Summoner?" Tidus asked.

"She was Simon's last true Summoner, his sixth." Harry told them. "I knew Lady Grace, she'd have destroyed that museum in fury if she knew that they weren't letting people use this for what I built it for."

"You built it?" Lulu gasped.

Harry shrugged. "That was a long time ago."

"You really mean for me to use it?" Lulu asked almost reverently.

"Sure." Harry told her and handed it to her after she stowed her old focus in Wakka's backpack. "Mind you, Lulu, apart from the Fayths that is probably the most powerful magical item in Spira. Don't abuse it and don't rely on it too heavily."

"But she can cast the most powerful spells with it!" Wakka was grinning.

"True, but she also has the ability to cast those spells through herself. She shouldn't carve a channel through a focus and rely too heavily on that." Harry lectured. "All mages should strive to never need a focus."

"Like you?" Tidus asked.

"Like me." Harry nodded. "A focus is a good back stop if you are weakened but they shouldn't be leaned on at all times like most Mages do. The same applies to Summoner's staffs."

"Thank you, Harry." Lulu told him and tested the weighty staff gently. The head stone glowed a fierce white and Lulu staggered.

"Bare in mind the last spell to channel through that was a powerful Holy." Harry chuckled.

"God, that spell feels..." Lulu gasped as her eyes glazed over. Harry snatched the staff from her fingers and she sighed out in disappointment before turning wide eyes on Harry. "Sorry."

"It's fine, spells as powerful as what I did to Seymour and the guards in the prison haven't been seen in the world for a decade." Harry handed her back the staff. "Are you okay, Tidus?"

Everybody turned to look at Tidus to see him shaking his head with an odd white glow to his eyes. Tidus opened and shut his mouth a few times before nodding as his eyes turned back to their normal gorgeous colour. To Harry at least. That affect would happen every time Tidus saw a Holy spell until he, himself, cast his Final Overdrive.

It took them almost four hours to reach the depths of the cave and there was a relieved sigh from them all as they entered a large cavern like room deep within the foot hills. Harry tapped his sword on the ground in a gentle pattern as the others leaned against the walls. They all had small nicks and bruises, especially Tidus who'd been hit in the chest hard from a flying stone, hurtled at them by a ghost. Harry had used a Cura to cut down the pain but he'd need better healing once they were clear of this place. White magic didn't work so well in places like this.

"Lulu, is this where?" Harry turned to look at her, she was the only one other than him still standing on her own. She nodded at him before the two strolled out into the middle of the cavern. The Pyreflies in the room began to swirl inwards and Harry heard a low moan in the air as his hair was blown about his face. "Show yourself, unsent!" Harry called making the others shoot upright, ready for another battle.

In front of Harry a figure emerged from a cloud of Pyreflies, she was a small woman, not much larger than Rikku and she wore the garb of a Summoner. "It is you, is it not, Lady Ginnem?" Lulu gasped and staggered forwards. "Please forgive me, I was too young."

"You were both too young to face this place." Harry told her. "Is there any human left in you, Lady Ginnem?" Harry asked the Unsent before him.

She ignored him and pulled out her Summoning staff. There was an influx of pressure that almost made Harry's ears pop. "Prepare yourselves!"

From the shadows behind Lady Ginnem appeared an eight foot tall man in thick red robes, Auror's robes, Harry recognised him but it wasn't his friend. It was a visage of the true Aeon taken out of the Pyreflies. Harry pulled out his sword. "Only attack if you are sure of victory." Harry told them all. "Even as a mere shadow of the real Yojimbo he is far beyond your skills."

"I thought the Aeons didn't attack you!" Tidus yelled at him, looking nervously as the tall man approached.

"It is a mere copy but still powerful." Harry yelled back.

The Aeon leapt forwards, spun in mid air, landing clear behind Harry, before he took a swipe at Auron who brought up his sword to defend himself. The Aeon twisted his sword in a way only Harry knew and Auron cried out as his wrist was twisted back and snapped. His sword fell to the ground. Yojimbo went to stab at him but an explosion of fire turned his attention onto Lulu who stood behind the Jewelled Staff.

"All of you get back!" Harry yelled but Kimahri ignored him and lunged forwards with a deadly sweep of his halberd that passed well clear of Yojimbo as the Aeon bent backwards under it. Yojimbo kicked Kimahri square in the chest sending the powerful Ronso, his only equal in size, flying backwards. "Weasel!" Harry yelled using an age old insult to attract Yojimbo's attention. Even though it wasn't really him it responded to the insult like normal and swung to see Harry behind his own sword.

It leapt at Harry and swung his sword in a skilled strike. Harry parried the blow before twisting his sword away from Yojimbo's to avoid the same fate as Auron. He spun and sent a strike at the Aeon's neck before blasting out with a wave of Firaga from his other hand even as Yojimbo blocked his strike. The Aeon was silent as it's innate abilities  protected it from the fire but it still staggered back. Harry ricocheted his blade off of Yojimbo's and spun in a tight circle. His sword whistled through the air before slicing across Yojimbo's front and for the first time in a thousand years a single swordsman had bested Yojimbo in a duel.

But it wasn't the end for the Aeon and his sword seemed to blur as strike after strike flew at Harry. Harry blocked one after another and even lashed out with a few of his own. Tidus cried out in shock as with a deft flick Yojimbo battered Harry's sword out to his side and before Harry could bring it back to block the Aeon's sword had slid passed Harry's throat, leaving a short trail of blood across Harry's throat as the Immortal threw himself backwards to save the rest of his neck.

Blood sprayed from Harry's neck and both Kimahri and Wakka tried to hold Tidus to keep him back but Tidus still managed to slip passed them and he launched himself at Yojimbo. Ice lashed out around him but Yojimbo parried his strike before utterly freezing up. Tidus staggered backwards in surprise just as Yojimbo burst into Pyreflies which scattered throughout the room. Through the Pyreflies the group could all see Harry with his sword through where Yojimbo had just been standing.

Harry gasped in air to ease his muscles before looking at Tidus. "Don't do something like that again, Tidus. He can't kill me, he could have killed you!"

"Sorry, Harry." Tidus gasped out looking down at Harry's throat. Harry winced and pulled his hand across his neck, smearing the blood that was slowly flowing down onto his vest. His hand glowed white as he channelled a Curaga into the wound and it healed over smoothly.

Harry stepped forwards to stand in front of Tidus. "I love you, Tidus." Harry whispered to him.

Tidus beamed at him happily before eyeing Lady Ginnem over Harry's shoulder. Yuna stepped away from where she was tending to Auron's wrist and pulled out her Summoning Staff to begin the Sending Ritual on the placidly waiting Unsent Summoner as Lulu watched on.

Harry ducked down between where Auron and Kimahri were leaning against the wall. "How are you both?" Harry asked.

Kimahri grunted to show he would be fine but Auron shook his head. "I'll need more complex healing than we can achieve down here." He told Harry.

"We'll get this done and then get back to the camp. I can heal you once we reach it." Harry promised. "You can all stay here. Tidus and Yuna can come through with me."

"Lady Ginnem and I..." Lulu paused. "We heard that a great sacrifice must be made to attain the Stolen Fayth's assistance."

Harry snorted in amusement. "Not for me."

He led them towards the back of the cavern and through a gap in the back wall that had clearly been a much larger entrance before it had been shrunk with bricks and mortar. Inside was a dark room that lit up when Yuna entered. In the centre of the room was a dark red slab of crystal that emitted the only light in the room. Inside the crystal was the magically frozen form of Harry's first close friend. Yuna automatically offered the prayer and almost instantly an image shimmered into being above the Fayth. He wore red Auror robes slightly thinner than the version that Yojimbo fought in.

"Greetings Summoner." Yojimbo nodded his head slowly. "I am the Blade of Vengeance. They dare only whisper my name. Yojimbo. You seek my aid yet my aid once destroyed the world. Do you desire a power that will destroy the World?"

Harry was surprised, he'd heard his friend's speech before but it had never been this. He would always determine the character of the Summoner before speaking to Harry. Harry waited to see what Yuna would say. "I seek a power that can help me save the world. Not destroy it."

Yojimbo tilted his head to the side slightly and studied Yuna. He nodded before turning directly to look at Harry. "I am sorry old friend but the playing field is changing. You have made your decision and thus so have we. We wish to end this now and through this one we shall. Fight us you will but fail you we shall not. Your sacrifice will not go forgotten."

"What are you talking about?" Harry frowned.

Instead of answering Yojimbo turned to Tidus. "Protect him for you are the answer to his pain. The time is close and you, Tidus, shall soon learn of your true potential. A potential to rival even the Immortal One."

Harry stared at his old friend in surprise and made to step forwards only to feel that same ebbing of pressure before the image of his friend flew forwards into Yuna who gasped and blacked out without a chance to retain her consciousness. Yojimbo may lose power in his subtlety but he was still one of the most powerful Aeons, his joining was harder than the triple Aeon because of the sheer power of his form.

Harry caught Yuna and carried her from the room. He felt a caress of air and warmth against his skin and shook his head in amusement. His friends all had their quirks. Tidus and Harry collected the others and Harry passed Yuna over to Wakka to carry so he could help fight since Tidus, Kimahri and Auron were all injured in different ways.

"So it was Valefor, Ifrit and Yojimbo that helped you cause the Great Cataclysm?" Tidus asked on their way out of the cave system.

"Yes." Harry nodded. "They were my best friends when we were children."

"Why were your punishments so different?" Tidus asked.

"They are more similar than you can imagine but my role was slightly more involved." Harry sighed and shook his head when Tidus went to continue questioning him.

It took another four hours to escape the caves and reach the camp and it was already late evening. Harry paid for hot food, a place to sleep and hot water for them all to bath in. They were more than happy to help a party of hidden monks and their escort, especially when it became clear that some of the escorting men were wounded.

Harry went with Tidus, Auron and Kimahri into the almost permanent hut that the camp had allowed their group to use. It had a small central area and two sleeping quarters on opposite sides. He made Kimahri and Tidus sit down before telling Auron to soak his wrist in some water to rid it of the dust and dirt from the caves.

"Alright, Kimahri, you're first." Harry told him and tried to push him flat back on the hard bench. Kimahri grunted and fended Harry off. "If you didn't plan on letting me help why did you come in here. Knock it off, Kimahri."

"Ronso not human." Kimahri told him. "I heal in time."

"Oh, that's just stupid." Harry snorted. "I've been around longer than the Ronso race, Kimahri. I know more about what's in your body than you do."

Tidus snorted in amusement. Kimahri conceded defeat and lay back on the bed, probably truly relaxing for the first time in days. Harry expertly probed around Kimahri's ribs finding which ones were damaged. "The problem with you Ronsos is that you skin is so thick you can't see internal bleeding." Harry lectured before turning to rummage through Rikku's potions pack for a suitable potion to heal any damage to his lungs. "If you can't swallow this into your lungs, leave it in your mouth and inhale the scent."

Harry tipped a small spoonful of the potion into Kimahri's mouth and with a clearly well practiced jerk the Ronso swallowed the potion down his throat. "Are you going to make me do that?" Tidus asked nervously.

"We'll see." Harry laughed before funnelling a strong Curaga into Kimahri's ribs. "You're lucky. If you weren't a Ronso you'd probably have several broken ribs and probably a punctured lung. As it is you had a few fractured and a lot of bruising. Take it easy tonight, Kimahri. We'll need your strength tomorrow when we meet your brethren and I know you won't want to show any weakness in front of them."

Kimahri nodded and slowly sat up before heading from the tent to find Yuna. "Okay, Auron, come over here." Harry patted the bench. Auron sat on the bench without complaint. "Tidus, could you hold his upper arm in place for me?" Tidus did as told without question and Harry slowly explored Auron's wrist, finding where the bone was broken. He didn't even give Auron a warning and with a deft squeeze of his hands he snapped the bones back into place. Auron cried out in pain but the pain was gone in a moment and Harry flooded Auron's arm with a series of healing magic before handing Auron a potion to take. "Don't you dare use this arm for anything." Harry warned him. "I'll check it again tomorrow morning."

Auron nodded before retreating. "My turn?" Tidus asked.

"Lose the jacket, Tidus." Harry told him and patted the bench. Tidus sat down and pulled his jacket off. Harry pushed down his high shorts and let his hands linger on Tidus' stomach for a moment before slowly pushing him back and checking him over. He had a large yellow bruise across his chest that made him hiss in pain when Harry gently probed his ribs with his fingers. He had several bruised ribs but nothing too bad. Harry sent in a powerful Curaga and the bruise even faded very slightly. Tidus gasped out and a small smile reached his face. He drew in a deep breath and let his hands come up to his chest, prodding his own ribs.

Harry slapped aside his hands. "None of that." Harry chided. "Leave them alone. They'll be fine after a night's sleep."

"Thanks." Tidus grinned before sitting up, catching Harry's hands as they fell away from his chest. "I love you too, you know." Tidus said, echoing Harry's words from in the cavern.

"I never doubted it." Harry smiled back. "And you'll have plenty of time on the way over the mountains to show me."

Tidus blushed slightly and Harry chuckled. The two left shortly after to join the others with their hot food and then as they chatted happily with the rest of the camp, telling stories about their journey, they went off to bath in the hot water the camp had provided them.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next day**

Harry checked Tidus and Kimahri's chests and Auron's wrist before they left their tent the next morning and they, as well as Wakka, met Lulu, Rikku and Yuna in the camp's catering tent where the camp dwellers fed them a warm breakfast. Auron and Lulu spent an hour getting supplies from the camp before the whole party of eight left the camp and backtracked to the main ravine. It was only there that Harry allowed himself and Yuna to take off their hooded cloaks, something that they'd both worn constantly while they were out of their designated shelters.

They headed up the ever steepening ravine until the track became dusted with snow. It was another hour or so before the chill began to spread through them and they all donned the warm coats that Harry had acquired for them back at the Al-bhed station. Harry had been careful in getting them so that they worked with the wearers fighting style and being an expert in most forms of fighting he didn't get it wrong

As they approached the entrance to a ravine with huge monolithic natural towers on either side of the entrance, Kimahri made a shift in his walk so that he was slightly in front and to the side of Yuna. Almost as soon as they entered the ravine it widened out and about a dozen Ronso were all around them. This was the normal place that they met visitors and very few knew where they actually lived. Harry had been to the Ronso cave towns numerous times in his years but only once or twice this century, about eighty years ago when he'd saved the life of the Ronso Maester while travelling through Macalania Woods.

This place, however, was foreboding and depressing, meant to bring home the fact that the Gagazet Mountains were a fatal place to venture into unprepared. Harry instantly recognised Maester Kelk Ronso standing with no less than three large Ronso bodyguards. "Summoner Yuna and Guardians," Kelk growled out. "You must leave here at once."

"Then we'll just pass right through." Harry hissed and strolled forwards so that he was between the Ronso and his group. He held Kelk's stare with a harsh one of his own. Harry knew all the Ronso customs, probably better than Kelk did if he was honest with himself.

"Gagazet is Ronso land, sacred mountain of Yevon." Kelk countered in his way of refusing Harry's request. "The mountain will not bare the footsteps of Infidels!"

"Gagazet is not a sacred mountain of Yevon." Harry snapped. "She allows passage for any to pass. You are not one who can counter that."

"An enemy of Yevon is an enemy of the Ronso." One of his bodyguards growled at Harry's words.

"I have cast aside Yevon." Yuna shouted back defiantly. "I follow the Temple no more!"

"Then you will die by those words." Kelk told her.

"So be it!" Yuna spat and Harry couldn't help but turn to her and raise an eyebrow. "Yevon has twisted the teachings and betrayed us all."

There was general outcry from both sides at this. The Ronso were shocked at the accusation while Harry's own group agreed with Yuna's words, especially Tidus and Rikku. Harry decided it was really his time to end this. "Grand Maester Kelk Ronso!" Harry shouted over them all and the words bounced back from the ravine walls. Everybody was shocked. They all stared at him. "You are the last living Maester of Yevon. You are, by law, Grand Maester. Spiritual Ruler of Spira."

"Such words!" Kelk was clearly startled.

"You would stand, as the Grand Maester of Yevon, and murder a Summoner and her Guardians?" Harry asked. "You would betray not just these teachings but Spira herself. You would betray the spirit of these Mountains?"

Kelk stared at him in shock.

"Elder Kelk, let Biran rend them asunder!" The bodyguard from before pleaded.

"Your blade cannot kill me, Ronso." Harry growled at him and in a twist of his body Harry was a pace to his right and his sword was sticking from the ground out of reach of his left hand. "Eight bullets threw me into the depths of Bevelle yet I rose and defeated Seymour. If you, a mere Ronso, can kill me than you may be called the Destroyer."

Kelk gestured Biran back as the Ronso looked almost ready to test that out. "If Maester Kinoc's words are to believed your declaration of Immortality was words of truth." Kelk spoke calmly. "Seymour has gone mad in his quest for power."

"And as is written in the Ronso Codec you cannot stand against the one who will face him." Harry said simply, quoting from the laws of the Ronso that none but a Ronso could ever know. The outcry from the Ronso was immense and the group found themselves being surrounded by furious, and armed, Ronsos.

"How do you know the sayings of the Codec?" Kelk asked.

Harry stepped closer to him but didn't lower his voice. "I was there when Liken Ronso and his three brothers wrote them. I journeyed with them to the Temple of Gagazet on the tallest peak in Spira."

Harry knew that there wasn't a single being there that wasn't shocked into silence. Harry waited them out. Kelk stared at Harry and Harry met his gaze steadily, his eyes showing countless years. Eventually Kelk turned to Yuna. "You have been branded a Traitor, but still you would fight Sin?" Kelk asked. "What is it that you fight for?"

"I fight for Spira." Yuna told him gently. "The people long for a Calm. I can give it to them. It's all I can give, defeating Sin, ending pain. It is all I can give."

Kelk bowed slowly and Harry retrieved his sword again. "Even sacrificing yourself?" Kelk asked. She nodded. "Ronso, let them pass. Summoner Yuna, your will is stronger than steel. Tempered steel that even the mightiest Ronso could not hope to bend. Yuna, we bow to your will. Now go! The sacred heights of Gagazet welcome you."

Harry snorted in amusement but turned to Kelk and bowed in the same way he had, slowly and with only a slight movement. "May _she_ watch over you." Harry told him, again using a term of phrase that no non-Ronso was ever allowed to overhear. He enjoyed the chaos he'd left behind him as he and the others continued on their way, uninhibited by the Ronso Clans.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**That night**

Only Harry, Auron and Kimahri weren't taken by surprise by how hard travelling the mountain pass actually was. Auron had obviously done it once himself, Kimahri, of course, had grown up in the mountain range and Harry had done this trip more times than he'd care to count.

It wasn't just the freezing cold winds, pelting blizzards and slippery slope but also the Fiends suited to the terrain that blended in with the snow and attacked with no warning. Keeping constantly alert was as tiring mentally as the trip was physically exhausting. By the time they reached a place that Harry and Kimahri decided was safe enough the others were fit to collapse in the snow and sleep for a week. Harry refused to allow it and sent Tidus scrambling up the ice wall to the side of the camp.

The camp site wasn't anywhere near large enough for more than a single tent and they'd need three. Harry had chosen the place because there was a series of ledges that climbed the side of the path with about two metres of wall between them. Each just wide enough to pitch their tents on. Tidus climbed to the second one and Harry tossed him up one of the tents before he tossed the second onto the first step. He followed Tidus up and between the two of them they pitched first their own tent at the top and then Yuna, Lulu and Rikku's on the other step. By the time they were back at the bottom Lulu, Auron, Rikku and Yuna had hot stew ready while Wakka and Kimahri had successfully pitched their own tent.

They ate together and Harry borrowed the Shifting Glacier to the surprise of the others. He circled the base of the camp with the sword using the sword's innate magic and his own to build an ice wall two feet thick and ten feet high. Almost instantly the strong wind vanished and they felt themselves relax. Harry didn't see the necessity of somebody staying awake on watch when he could ensure the Fiends remained out of their camp. Everybody would need as much sleep as possible. It would take another two days to reach the top and get into the cave network and they'd be lucky if no one collapsed.

After eating they all decided to just pack it in for the night. Harry and Tidus rigged guide ropes between the tents in case they had to get up in the night and by the time they settled into their tent it was almost completely dark. Tidus just about managed to get his chest bare before he collapsed forwards into his sleeping bag with a satisfied moan that was muffled by his pillow. Harry chuckled at him affectionately and kissed the back of his neck before stripping off his own clothes for the night. The cold didn't bother him all that much with his age and Tidus would be warmer if he could touch skin. Really the two had it much easier than the others who wouldn't share personal space.

Harry helped Tidus out of his shoes and trousers and then tucked him into their joint sleeping bag. Just before Harry got into the sleeping bag properly he noticed that Tidus was rolling his shoulders, trying to ease his own tension. Harry closed the sleeping bag before rolling over to straddle Tidus' upper legs. Tidus jumped at the unexpected move but groaned out into the pillow when Harry started kneading his hands into Tidus' aching muscles. Harry alternated his hands with his lips and he could feel their chilled skin growing warmer.

Tidus made to roll over and Harry took his weight from his legs to allow it. He smirked down at Tidus in the near pitch black tent when he felt the evidence of Tidus' state against his less than subtle show of the same state of arousal. "I like this way of staying warm." Tidus locked his arms around Harry's back and pulled him down for a deep and passionate kiss.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next day**

Tidus normally stuck at Harry's side most of the time but along some stretches he disappeared to talk to the others. In all he had far too much energy but then again he was a seventeen year old boy. Yuna was always rather collected but Rikku was just like Tidus. The trio of seventeen year olds livened up the group immensely on this stage of the journey. Rikku and Tidus were walking together when Harry heard them talking together, yelling over the wind without realising that the wind was carrying their words to Harry rather clearly.

"Zanarkand is on the other side, you know." Rikku was telling Tidus.

"I know." Tidus replied.

"Yunie is going to get the Final Aeon, you know." She continued.

"I know." Tidus sounded so despondent that Harry felt immensely sorry for him. Almost as if he felt that Tidus would never forgive him if he didn't come up with the perfect solution right at that moment.

"I still haven't thought of anything." Rikku told him and then suddenly looked over her shoulder at the group. Harry feigned disinterest for the moment she was watching him. He wanted to know what Rikku was thinking, he'd been slowly assessing them all about the Great Aeon and so far it was split. Wakka and Lulu were eyeing the idea of a final solution. Yuna knew the risks involved and would rather sacrifice herself instead of risking thousands or even millions of people. Kimahri and Auron simply hadn't said anything about it but Harry knew that Auron had gotten himself killed over the pointlessness of the sacrifice.

Rikku was an Al-bhed though, they had a distinct hate of all things to do with the constant sacrifice and they were willing to fight wars if it brought them closer to permanently ridding themselves of Sin. It was possible that Rikku believed that thousands dead now justified ridding Spira of Sin for eternity.

"Tidus..." Rikku touched the young man on the arm. "Do you really think Harry is right? That it's out of the question to use that Aeon. I mean the Aeon is there for a reason right?"

"But what about what he said would happen?" Tidus asked.

"But people are already dying with Sin about. This is a way to finally end all that killing." Rikku argued.

"I trust Harry, Rikku." Tidus told her confidently. "He loves this world too much to not have thought it through carefully. If using that Aeon was an option than he would have done it centuries ago."

"Maybe you're right." Rikku sighed.

"It's not me you have to trust, Rikku." Tidus told her. "It's Harry."

Rikku nodded and stumbled on further ahead of Tidus to think. Tidus glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw Harry there. Harry flashed him a smile and Tidus sighed and continued along the route.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

They were only just shy of the peak when Harry tensed up as a foul stench reached him. It smelt like the zombies within some of the nastier places in Spira. Harry pulled his sword even as the rest recoiled at the smell. Harry slowly turned in a circle and was looking straight at the clouds around them when the deformed shape of Seymour Guado appeared out of the mist. He's again deformed his own body and soul, pushing to become more powerful regardless of the cost.

He was completely pale now, his skin drawn across his wasted body even as he hovered above another construct that was definitely more vicious than the guard he'd built to protect him from the group in Bevelle.

"Lady Yuna, it is a pleasure." Seymour drawled out, his voice laced with the same stench that pervaded the air. Yuna pulled her Summoning Staff to try to Send Seymour but he just sneered at her. "A Sending, so soon? Allow me to say something to the last Ronso before I leave. Yours was a truly gallant race. They threw themselves at me to bar my path. One after another."

"No." Kimahri growled but Harry was just as angry at what Seymour was suggesting. Harry squeezed Kimahri's arm tightly to control the Ronso's anger and to reassure him. There was no way that Seymour could have kill _all_ of the Ronso in a matter of even three days.

"You could end the suffering of this poor Ronso." Seymour was still talking to Yuna.

"I don't understand you!" Yuna yelled back at him angrily.

"Allow Kimahri to die and release him from his pain." Seymour explained. "Spira is a land of suffering and sorrow caught in a spiral of death. To heal Spira, I will become Sin. Yes, with your help. Come with me, Yuna!"

Tidus pulled his sword and put himself in front of Yuna. Seymour focused directly at him. "Once I have become Sin your father will be freed." Harry saw Tidus breathe in sharply and he swallowed but his grip on his sword didn't falter.

"What do you know!?" Tidus growled out even as Yuna, Lulu, Wakka and Rikku stared at the back of his head in shock.

"Pitiful mortal." Seymour sneered at Tidus who was breathing faster.

"You can't say such words to me, Seymour." Harry snarled and stepped in front of the young man he loved. "I've defeated stronger men than you without trying."

"You are nothing once compared to what I have become." Seymour squared off against Harry. "I am beyond you now."

"It really disgusts me." Harry told him. "There are true innocents like Bahamut, Ixion and Shiva who made an honest mistake and have been trapped for a thousand years and then there are scum like you roaming this world. The world that I love. There's no way I can hurt you enough to make up for that but I'm damn well going to try."

Harry's struck out and his magic welled out without guidance. The air shimmered as Myst struck out searing the air and Tidus recoiled backwards, grabbing Yuna and Rikku and jerking them away from Harry. Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri and even Auron stepped back as the Myst struck through Seymour and the abomination screamed as his skin began peeling and falling away. His Construct shuddered as parts of it were ripped away. Harry's eyes glowed even as they widened in shock.

He'd intended to lash out with an Ultima but his Aeon had risen with his anger and he had to struggle to keep it completely contained even as wings of Myst tried to spread from him. "Harry!" Tidus yelled in panic. Harry turned to look at him through the waves of Myst, his friends were still retreating from him but Tidus drew his full attention even through Seymour's screams of pain. Tidus' whole body was covered in a white sheen and his eyes glowed a fierce white colour. He was completely channelling Holy like no other had ever done before.

The Myst died away with Harry's shock and his inattention cost him as he felt a spear of magic slam into his side sending him flying across the path and into the wall of the mountain. He managed to get to his feet but just as Seymour was raising an arm to impale him again Tidus was there with a nexus of thick Soul magic surrounding him. Flames of Holy magic licked up around Harry without hurting him before they spread out across the entire path, bathing everything in towering white flames. Seymour's screams were heard clearly over the throbbing in Harry's ears but nobody could see Seymour until the light faded and Tidus sagged backwards onto the ground.

Harry caught him even though his head was shot through with pain and he lowered them both back so that Harry's back was to the wall and Tidus was against his chest. Seymour hadn't had a chance against a blast of concentrated Myst followed by the direct attention of somebody caught up in a Holy powered Final Overdrive. His very being had been obliterated.

"What was that?" Rikku gasped and knelt beside Tidus. His skin burned in fever and his eyes were flickering backwards and forwards even with his eyelids half open.

"Tidus' Final Overdrive." Harry sighed and placed his hand over Tidus' forehead pressing down slightly so that Tidus could feel it in his dazed state. "He'll be fine in a few minutes once it wears off."

"What did you do?" Lulu asked. "That was no magic that I knew."

"I lost control." Harry told them, trying to avoid an explanation. They weren't amused by his attempt and simply stared at him. "I protect the location of the Great Aeon."

"So...?" Wakka pushed.

"The Great Aeon controls Myst." Harry continued.

"Myst is a legend!" Lulu gasped.

"Not so much." Harry shrugged. "Myst flows through my body but unlike the Great Aeon I have no control of it. It is affected by my emotions and within my Overdrives. Tidus seems to be similar."

Tidus began to stir after a few moment and groaned tiredly. "Harry?" He whispered. "What happened?"

"You had a little temper tantrum and Seymour suffered for it." Harry chuckled and mused his hair. "You activated your Final Overdrive. It'll come back to you in a minute or two."

Tidus sagged back and his head landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry tilted his head forwards as Rikku began exploring the back of his skull. "Yuna, you'd better heal this."

Yuna did quick work and almost instantly Harry's head began to clear. She sat back once she was done and bit her lip, looking thoughtful. "He will become Sin." She muttered. "With my help."

"Lies." Auron told her even as he glanced at Harry. "Forget them."

"If he becomes Sin, Sir Jecht will be saved." She looked between Tidus, Harry and Auron with more determination. "You know something! Tell me!" Yuna demanded of Tidus who groaned and looked at her.

"Sin's..." Tidus sighed. "My old man."

"You hit your head?" Wakka asked in amusement.

"Sin is my old man. My old man became Sin!" Tidus told them all desperately. Harry hugged him, they'd never discussed it but both of them had known Harry was aware of it. "I don't know how or why he did it. I felt him inside and when I did I knew it was true. My old man is Spira's suffering. I'm sorry."

"Even knowing that Sin is your father." Yuna sighed. "You know I must."

"I know. Let's get him." Tidus nodded and made to stand. Harry helped him up. "I think he'd want that."

"You'd fight your own father?" Lulu asked.

"No problem there." Tidus chuckled.

"I'm getting confused." Wakka admitted. "How is all this possible?"

"We'll learn when we arrive. Soon." Auron told them all before turning his back and heading along the path. Harry winced, this was it. When Tidus discovered what he truly was.

Harry walked at Tidus' side in silence as they followed the rest of the group. Harry did something he'd never done before, he took Tidus' hand in his own. "I said I'd fight my own father." Tidus sighed. "Has it really come to that?"

"We have to fight Sin, Tidus." Harry told him quietly. "Your father wasn't perfect but I knew him after the point that he realised he had been a bad father and I know he'd want you to free him."

"Would you fight your own father?" Tidus asked.

"I wouldn't know." Harry told him. "My parents were murdered when I was still a baby. I never knew them."

"Who raised you?" Tidus asked.

Harry stopped and bit his lip as he looked at Tidus but he decided to just be honest, he'd long since forgotten to care about his childhood. "My negligent Aunt, her abusive husband and my bully of a cousin."

"Harry!?" Tidus gasped in shock.

"It was too long ago to bother me anymore, Tidus." Harry told him. He looked after the others who had stopped just before a turn in the road to look back at them but they seemed to be giving them a moment. Especially Auron who knew what was about to happen. "Tidus, do you remember I told you that one day I'd come clean to you about your Zanarkand, about how I've been there? I told you I'd do my best to be there with you when you found out well this is it."

"What?" Tidus frowned.

"This is where you find out about where you come from." Harry told him "You'll find out what I've been hiding from you since before I first spoke to you. I've known about this for a thousand years, I've lived there from time to time."

"I don't get you, Harry." Tidus frowned at him.

"Come on and you'll see." Harry told him quietly and tugged him along to catch up with the others. Auron waited for Harry to pass them before he motioned for the others to follow. He led Tidus around the corner and into what had been dubbed the Valley of the Cry through sheer ignorance. It was believed that it was a group of refugees from Zanarkand before Sin had destroyed it that had come here to pray for forgiveness for their transgressions.

Harry called it the Valley of the Summoning. The group came to a shocked halt as they came into view. The three walls of the valley were flowing with thick blue magic that almost looked like viscous water. The bottom of the valley was filled in the blue magic and in the centre the magic streamed up into the sky. The walls were covered in tiers of fixed statue like bodies.

"Wow!" Yuna gasped. Harry glanced at her in amusement. She had that right. They were all staring around them, especially at the closest of the Fayth, a proud man fixed as if from stone and throbbing with the blue magic.

"What are those?" Wakka asked, looking every bit like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Those are Fayth." Yuna told them in awe. "It's a summoning! Someone is using these Fayth. Someone is drawing energy from all of them."

"This many?" Rikku gasped.

"Who wields power on this scale?" Lulu gasped in shock. "What could they be calling?"

"You know something!" Rikku glared at Harry.

Harry turned his gaze on her and she flinched. "This isn't your problem, Rikku." Harry told her but then turned to Tidus. "This is your answer." Harry told him.

"Sir Auron?" Yuna turned to him pleadingly seeing that they'd get nothing from Harry.

"He knows not the full of it." Harry interrupted but reached out for Tidus' hand. Tidus gave it to him and Harry turned and pressed Tidus' hand through the streaming magic so his skin touched the chest of just one of the thousands of Fayths here.

Tidus went limp almost instantly and Harry lowered him to the ground caringly before sitting beside him. "What did you do to him?" Wakka narrowed his eyes at Harry.

"He is home again." Harry said quietly. "I must go with him." Before they could say anything Harry shut his eyes and slipped into the Sleeper's World.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Zanarkand**

Tidus stared as he turned in a full circle. He was standing on the deck of his Houseboat, where'd he'd lived alone since he was twelve. This time though he wasn't alone. Before him stood a small boy, no more than thirteen years old and he was so familiar. "Welcome home." The boy told him with a warm smile.

"You..." Tidus gasped as he finally recognised him from both recently and further back.

"Remember me?" He asked. "We met in Bevelle."

"Christopher." Tidus gasped. For a moment Tidus saw only pain in the small boy's eyes.

"He told you." Christopher sighed. "I've met you before too. I've known you for a long time."

"I feel like I know you, too." Tidus frowned. "Where are we?"

"You're home again, Tidus." Harry's voice was such a welcome thing in this place and he turned to the right where Harry's body appeared where his voice had echoed. Harry looked just as real as the rest of this place. "This is your Zanarkand. It's as real as anything else."

"What's gotten into them?" Wakka's voice made Tidus spin around and saw his friend for an instant.

"Wake up!" Rikku shouted as she appeared for a moment.

"This is a dream?" Tidus gasped.

"Yes, Tidus." Harry told him and Tidus turned back to him.

"A dream!" Tidus gasped. "Are you crazy, we don't have time to be dreaming now!"

"You're wrong." Christopher glanced up at Harry and Harry sighed and shut his eyes and nodded. Christopher turned back to Tidus. "It's not that you're dreaming. You are a dream."

"What?" Tidus stared at Harry in surprise.

"Long ago there was a war." Christopher explained.

"Yeah," Tidus nodded. "With Machina right?"

"A war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Bevelle's Machina ensured their victory from the start. We'd never seen such power before. The Summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance. Zanarkand was doomed to oblivion. So we tried to save it, if only as a memory."

"What did you do?" Tidus asked but he was looking at Harry, he already knew the answer.

"We ignored Harry's warnings. We wanted peace so much that we released what we couldn't control." Christopher's eyes looked so old and tired. "It destroyed everything, the armies, all the great cities including our own. The remaining Summoners and townspeople of Zanarkand that survived the war became Fayth. Fayth for the Summoning."

"The Summoning?" Tidus asked.

"This place, Tidus." Harry told him gently. "I called it the Sleeper's World. The memory of the true Zanarkand that was destroyed. It never sleeps but millions live their lives in it with no idea that they truly don't exist beyond the minds of those first survivors."

"I don't understand." Tidus shook his head, unable to work it all out himself.

"The dreams of the Fayth summoned the memories of the city into reality." Harry explained sadly. "They summoned all the buildings, all the people that lived here."

"The people!" Tidus took a step away from him. "They're all dreams? Me too?"

"Yes, you are a dream of the Fayth." Christopher stepped forwards as if to Harry's rescue. "You, your mother, your father, everyone. All dreams. And if we stop dreaming..."

All around them Zanarkand began to vanish from sight. Harry knew it could be rebuilt just as easily, just like when Jecht had broken into it and destroyed it before. All that remained was the deck of Tidus' Houseboat and the three of them. "No!" Tidus yelled at them both. "So what if I'm a dream? I like being here!"

"Tidus." Harry sighed. "They're tired, I can feel it in the dream. You, your mother and your father are different. They want to stop dreaming but you are a part of that dream."

"What am I?" Tidus looked at Harry like he'd been betrayed.

"You're more than a dream to me, Tidus." Harry told him but Tidus was already waking up.

"Maybe he will end our dreaming once and for all." Christopher told Harry.

"What you said before?" Harry asked. "You want to release my power?"

"It wants to be released, Harry. And we can no longer fight it." Christopher told him. "Maybe it will be a release for you too."

"At the cost of millions!" Harry snapped.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Christopher told him. "But we cannot go on forever."

"And I must?" Harry shook his head.

"We don't wish to hurt you anymore." Christopher told him.

"You never wished to hurt me before." Harry sighed and leaned down to hug Christopher who latched onto him with enthusiasm. Harry pulled himself back to his body long before they broke out of the hug.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Gagazet – Valley of the Summoning**

Harry opened his eyes just as Tidus did. Tidus stared at him for a moment, shut his eyes and turned away from him. Harry winced and slowly stood up. "What happened?" Yuna asked.

"Nothing, I blacked out, had a dream and you called me so I woke up." Tidus told her as he, too, pulled himself to his feet.

"Are you alright?" Rikku asked.

"I'm okay." Tidus shrugged and Harry winced. "Don't we still have a long way to go today?"

Auron nodded and pulled the group away. Harry reached out to touch Tidus' arm pleadingly but he pulled away with a shake of his head. "Just leave me alone, Harry."

Harry watched him walk off and saw Rikku waiting for him. He couldn't really blame him but if Tidus reacted like this after finding this out how would he react when he found out that Harry was an Aeon?

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	11. Walking through ruins

Bound through the Ages

A/N; I'd like to apologise to everyone for both the delay in this story and for the delay in my writing. Shockingly it has been an entire month since I last updated anything. I have my reasons, workload being one of them so I hope that's understandable. This chapter ends with one of the scenes most of my reviewers have been drooling over and I hope it pleases you even if you thought you knew where the line was drawn between enemies.

Please read and enjoy!

Chapter 11; Walking through ruins

**Gagazet Mountain Cave – Zanarkand Trials**

The air around the group was filled with tension when, after an hour of walking, they arrived at the looming entrance to the caves that led through the summit of Mount Gagazet and out towards the lower hills reigning over Zanarkand. As they walked inside the wind was cut off and the air grew slightly warmer and the steady dripping of water from the ceilings reached their ears.

Tidus was ignoring everything that Harry did and Harry knew better than to try to force a reaction from Tidus even though it hurt Harry for the young man to be angry at him. Auron wasn't fooled over Tidus' excuse that he'd fallen asleep but Harry knew that Auron was aware of Tidus' true nature and had been ever since Jecht had removed Tidus from the Sleepers' World. The others had cottoned on that something was wrong between Harry and Tidus but had wisely kept their mouths shut.

"How deep is this place?" Wakka asked looking to Auron and then to Harry.

"The caves themselves or the route through?" Harry asked. It was the first time he'd spoken since they'd left the Valley of the Cry. Wakka paused so Harry just answered both. "Nobody truly knows how far or deep these caves go. I've had a look myself but it's like a catacomb. I got lost for a few years down there once."

"Is there any chance of us getting lost?" Yuna asked practically.

"I know the route through here just as well as I know the way to my home in Besaid, Yuna." Harry promised her. "It's only a few miles for us to cut through the mountain and complete the trial and there's only a couple of ways down into the major part of the caves. Don't wander off and there won't be a problem."

The group nodded their obedience to his instruction with the noted exception of Tidus who had stayed looking down into the tunnels with his hand on the pommel of the Shifting Glacier as if it gave him strength in his confusion and insecurity. Harry watched him for a moment and the rest, sensing the tension, stayed silent. "Let's get going." Auron spoke up into the silence.

Harry nodded and led the way further into the cave. Lulu lit the Jewelled Staff and it's soft white glow lit their way into the darkness as the turns and twists of the cave cut off the outside light and took away any concept of time. "What I wouldn't do for a good watch." Harry muttered.

"The cold would freeze it up." Rikku commented from where she walked at his right hand side. Tidus and Kimahri were ahead of them while Wakka, Lulu, Yuna and Auron ranged behind them.

"Not the old fashioned type." Harry shrugged.

"How can you say that?" Wakka asked from behind them. "Doesn't that sort of thing normally get better?"

Harry turned to look at him before chuckling. "You'd be amazed at the technology that used to roam this world, Wakka." Harry told him.

"Yeah, the sort of thing that created Sin and got us in this position." Wakka argued.

"You still believe that then?" Harry laughed outright. "And people sometimes ask me why I've never bothered to counter Yevon before. People are simply too stuck in their ways, they grasp to what they believe in the hope that nothing will change and effect them."

"What sort of things were there?" Rikku asked after a moment.

"In Zanarkand." Tidus spoke up. "We had all sorts of things. Airships, really fast cars and boats."

"Zanarkand was a jewel." Harry nodded his agreement. "They combined magic and technology into the type of technology you know now. Before the Great Aeon was released though..."

"What?" Rikku prompted him after a moment.

"We sent things into space." Harry said simply.

"Impossible!" Yuna gasped. "How?"

"It's not that difficult." Harry said simply. "We filled space with small devices that could transmit signals around the world, you could talk to somebody on the other side of the world in real time."

"That's amazing." Rikku stared at Harry in wonder.

"We put people on the moon." Harry told them with a smile. The moon was one of the only things he knew that all the ages hadn't changed. It still hung above them on its lunar cycle and although the face had changed ever so slightly as it spun it was still a friend to him. "And with the touch of a button we could fire a missile around the globe that could wipe continents off the face of the planet and kill billions."

His abrupt change made Rikku's step falter and she stumbled even as the others looked at Harry in horror. Lulu frowned. "The story?" She asked Harry. "Of the beast in Macalania? Supposedly it was killed by those that lived in Spira before Zanarkand even existed. I thought at the time you might know more about it but now I know for sure you must do."

Harry laughed and a nasty smirk spread across his face. "The Great Aeon paused in its rampage when it came across a vast forest in the lower of two large continents. The humans called it the Amazon, it was on the equator of the planet at the time." Harry started the group walking again and they headed deeper into the caves and towards the trials. "It's pause gave the humans a moment to collect itself and after a day they struck at it with everything they could. I don't even know what happened but even against enough power to wipe out the current population of Spira in one blow it wasn't even harmed. It's shield of Myst swept outwards and absorbed the attacks and killed the men and women in the planes and tanks that attacked it. Somehow the Myst sunk in the trees that were also protected and it mutated them into Macalania Forest. Because of the Myst it is one of the only places in Spira that remains unchanged by time."

"That almost sounds like a fable." Yuna commented.

"Well you're about two thousand years too late for proof, Yuna." Harry paused as he heard a sound and his hand went to the hilt of his sword and he slid it out of its sheathe and flexed his knees. He and Kimahri were the first to see it, a massive globe of slime hanging above them. It was black and seemed to absorb the light emitted from the Staff. As if sensing that it had been spotted by the group it fell from the ceiling. Tidus leapt out of the way and had the Shifting Glacier in his hand even as he rolled to his feet.

Kimahri leapt into the air and turned his halberd point down and plunged it into the side of the Dark Flan. The halberd passed through the skin, slashing deep, but even as Kimahri pulled it back the wound closed over. "It's an elemental Flan." Harry shouted loudly as he sheathed his sword. "Physical attacks and normal magic won't have any effect."

"Then what do we do!?" Wakka yelled.

"It's Dark." Harry said simply and dove to the side along with Yuna, Rikku and Auron as the side of the Flan struck out to try to hit them. He rolled to his feet. "Cast Holy magic."

"We're not all you, Harry." Lulu pointed out.

Harry took a few steps to her side as the Flan advanced on them. The others dashed forwards to distract it and Harry touched her on the side of the head, touching her core with a little of his magic. He stepped away as he left his magic with a single command, to shape her magic into a Holy spell. He had to maintain the link to the spell that directed her magic but Lulu would do most of the casting, in both willpower and magic. Harry reached out with his right hand and a nexus of white power filtered down out of the ceiling and spiralled around his hand, spinning faster and faster and building in power.

He glanced over at Lulu and saw as the Jewelled Staff lit up with Holy Magic as she summoned the spell into being. It was like a pin prick in comparison to what Harry had summoned through the Staff in Bevelle or compared to what Tidus had done to Seymour just a few hours ago but as the spell shot from the staff and across the cave it was still strong magic. It split into three parts and circled around the Flan, speeding up until it was hard to distinguish the individual parts from the ring they formed. Harry shot his own nexus of power into the centre of the ring and it lanced through the centre of the Flan, exploding with a bright flash of white light that blinded them all for a moment.

The last remnants of the Flan disappeared into Pyreflies and Harry nodded to himself. They'd probably just taken out one of the few Dark Flans in this place. He took in Tidus as he shook his body to rid himself of the small white sheen against his skin and the glowing white eyes and then turned to Lulu as Yuna steadied her. "Can you still walk?" Harry asked her. She nodded and pressed her left palm to her forehead in pain. The staff was still gripped tightly in her right hand and the Jewell burned with Holy Magic. "You'd best leave off with the staff for an hour or so." Harry told her and with a jerk of his wrist and a highly controlled piece of magic the staff flew from her grasp and into Tidus who caught it with Blitzball reflexes.

"What you did..." Luna looked at him in awe. "I've never heard of somebody being able to shape and guide another Mage's spells before."

"I could have you cast the Ultima spell if I wanted to, Lulu." Harry shrugged. "And if I so desired have you fail in the casting. I've killed a Maester like that before."

"You're more powerful than we thought." Auron spoke up with a worried look on his face.

"Skilled." Harry corrected. "And at least I've stopped hiding things about myself."

Auron narrowed his eyes at Harry but started the group back onto their path before anybody could ask what Harry had meant. Harry's eyes met with Tidus' as the young man past him but again, nothing was said between them. Harry remained looking back along the tunnel for a moment before turning to follow the group until they reached a fork in the road. Harry walked through them and paused by the wall that separated the two passages. "We need to split up for a while." Harry told them. "There are two systems that have to be activated in here before the bridge is raised for us to leave through the North of the caves. Each system is at the end of one of these tunnels. Tidus, Rikku, Wakka and I will go to the left. The rest of you, Auron, Lulu, Yuna and Kimahri will have to take the other route."

"Why those groups?" Yuna asked.

"They will have to pass through an underground lake to reach their goal." Auron said simply. "Only those that can breathe underwater can go that way."

"Or don't have to breathe." Harry added with a smirk that got everyone's attention before he became serious and addressed those that were separating from his own group. "While there are a few nasty beast on our route, yours is more dangerous, stay in the main passageway and don't take any of the small right turns. Get to the end and then backtrack. Auron, you remember where to go?"

Auron nodded to show he understood. "We'll meet up with you where the tunnels join before we head north again." Auron promised him.

Harry left down the left hand tunnel and was soon joined by Rikku while Wakka and Tidus followed a few metres behind them. It wasn't long before they reached the edge of the lake. The water reached away down the tunnel but Harry knew that just around the first bend it disappeared under a low ledge and they'd have to remain underwater for quite a while, too long for somebody who hadn't undergone the training required to extract oxygen from the water around them, something that took calm and concentration to achieve.

"You said you could do this because you didn't have to breathe." Rikku pointed out as they waded out into the water. Harry looked at her and she continued. "Isn't it strange not breathing?"

"It won't kill me not to but it's not pleasant either." Harry admitted. "Not having air in your lungs causes pain, a lot of it. And eventually you get cramping in your muscles."

"So why, if you're so old haven't you learned to extract the oxygen?" Wakka asked just as Harry swam into the water properly.

Harry paused before answering and dove down into the water, re-emerging a few feet further ahead. "Because I'm not the same as you." Harry told them simply. "You can breathe because humans have evolved over the two millennia I've been alive. I haven't though."

"So you don't have the exchanges?" Rikku asked curiously, touching just under her ears where Harry knew that human exchanges were. Where the skin was thin enough to allow water in and out and remove oxygen from the water as it did it.

"We're wasting time." Tidus chirped up before diving down into the water and swimming a few metres along the water before surfacing and heading down the tunnel. Harry sighed but followed suit though he did note that Tidus had listened to the conversation up until Harry had answered the questions.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Three hours later**

Harry, Tidus, Rikku and Wakka were rather cold, wet and tired when they walked into the junction where the other group were waiting for them. Harry leant against the wall while Rikku and Tidus simply flopped out on the ground where Yuna and Lulu were sitting. "How long have you been here?" Harry asked Auron.

"About thirty minutes." Auron told him.

"It took us a little longer than I anticipated." Harry admitted. "There are more than the normal number of beasts in the lake."

"We saw the same increase." Auron admitted. "Luckily not another one of those Flans though."

"I rarely even see one of those things." Harry sighed. "It's getting late and it's still a few hours before we can safely rest." Harry spoke up. "We need to get moving and get clear of the tunnels and into the edges of Zanarkand before too long."

"Why not just camp at the entrance to the caves?" Yuna asked.

"We don't want to stay in the caves overnight." Auron answered for Harry.

"There are beasts down lower that come up at night to roam the edges of the mountain." Harry explained. "We can't afford to fight like that and then leave the cave with no rest."

"What about..." Auron started before trailing off.

"I can handle that mostly on my own." Harry told him, knowing he meant Zanarkand's Guardian.

"What are you talking about?" Wakka asked impetuously. "We can fight..."

"You'll see soon enough." Harry cut him off before pushing away from the wall and letting Auron lead the way out of the caves and into the fresh air of the mountain's northern side. As they left the shielded walls of the cave the cold air hit them again but it wasn't so bitingly cold on the northern side of the mountain and it shielded them from the full force of the wind. Harry paused as they came out onto a wide ledge covered in snow and the group came to a stop behind him, tensing up as Harry pulled his sword clear of its sheathe.

"What is it?" Yuna asked him as she pulled her staff from her belt, a motion that made all the others do the same.

"The Sanctuary Keeper." Auron announced. "It's coming."

Harry followed his gaze up to the ledge above them where the snow was sliding down slowly. A moment later a large shape leapt from the ledge and landed with a heavy thud in front of them. It was built like a tank with thick front and back legs and a large body and head with pincers coming out from its jaws. It reared up in front of them and bellowed out a call of defiance that Harry had heard many times. It was a test of their strength before they were allowed into Zanarkand, it answered to Yunalesca and it could only be beaten, it could never be destroyed. Not until Yunalesca herself passed on.

"Yuna, summon Yojimbo and give him licence to do as he wishes." Harry ordered her as he slowed levelled his sword at the Sanctuary Keeper and sent ice dancing across the blade. Really it didn't matter what element he used since the Keeper didn't have any elemental weakness but the added cold of the blade would weaken its scales and irritate more than anything else.

"We can help!" Wakka shouted.

"Leave him to it." Auron announced and pulled his sword back behind his leg as he pulled Tidus back away from the fight. Yuna nodded and stepped forwards and brought up her staff. She turned a complete circle and the familiar patterning of Ron's rune spread out across the ground and in a surge of power the eight foot tall figure appeared out of the air and let his sword tip touch the floor. He glanced at Yuna before striding forwards.

"_We are here once more, Harry."_ His well loved voice sounded in Harry's ears. _"Perhaps for the last time."_

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry asked him aware that the others didn't know who he was talking to.

"_We will fight for what Yuna decides."_ Ron told him. _"The trapped must be freed. All of them."_

Harry was distracted as the Keeper grew impatient and leapt forwards, bring his pincers down where Harry had been standing but he was a second too slow as Harry leapt into the air, using magic to boost his jump. He came down on the pincers and used them as a spring board as the Keeper flicked it's head up to try to get rid of him. Harry flew over its back slicing his cold blade through the scales down it's spine. The creature thrashed it's head and neck and Harry dodged its tail as he landed, turning in time to see Ron slash out with his sword that Harry could never dream of lifting. The Aeon-driven sword cut deep into the beast's neck.

It wasn't quite enough to kill it though but even as the wounded Keeper turned on the Aeon Harry was moving, he used the lashing tail again to his advantage, letting himself land twice on the back of the Keeper to get up between its shoulder blades before he flipped high into the air and drove his sword down through the back of its neck and severed its spinal column with his entire weight. Harry rode it down to the ground before rolling clear. It slumped to the ground with a groan before pyreflies exploded from it and reached up into the sky leaving only Harry's sword lying on the ground as testament to the kill.

"Wow." Wakka breathed out.

The towering figure of Yojimbo nodded to Harry before bowing to Yuna and vanishing into another cloud of pyreflies. Harry walked to his sword and picked it up, he inspected it quickly, turned off the ice cell and finally sheathed it before turning to look at the low sun. They had perhaps half an hour before it got dark and about an hour and a half's walk to reach where he wanted to go.

"We need to get moving." Harry told them all before starting to walk towards the path that led down towards Zanarkand. It was very steep and slow going at times and not very well worn but Harry knew the changing path quite well and apart from a few changes in the route they covered it quite easily.

Harry stopped just as he came into view of Zanarkand as he heard stressed voices behind him. He turned away from the depressing vista to see Rikku arguing with Auron. Harry waited them out before turning and heading down into Zanarkand with the others behind him, ignoring the astonished gasps of everyone around him as they saw Zanarkand. Harry turned only once as he entered the place he had called home the longest and the only reason he did so was because he needed to know that Tidus was okay and what he saw was a deeply resigned look.

"Zanarkand isn't dead, Tidus." Harry said as he stopped and Tidus made to walk past him.

"And if they stop dreaming?" Tidus snapped, saying his first words to Harry since that afternoon.

"Then it will live on in my memories just as it has done since I first came here." Harry said simply. "We've arrived." Harry announced to the rest of the group before gesturing off the side of the path. They'd just come down into the building proper and the earth from the mountains had half overcome a few ruined buildings. Not much was left of the buildings, perhaps only the bottom halves still stood and some of them leant on each other. The building Harry gestured to sat a little way away from the path and it looked as bad as the others.

Harry stepped off of the path and after a few steps past under a small gap where the only buildings between the path and his destination had collapsed together to form a kind of tunnel of twisted metal and stone. "Where are we going?" Yuna asked as the group followed him.

"Somewhere more comfortable than our normal camps." Harry told them loudly just as he emerged directly into what had been the foyer of the once beautiful apartment building. A set of dilapidated steps led up from the centre of the room and the remains of two elevators stood to the side.

"What is this place?" Rikku asked. "Part of the old city?"

"This has been my home twice." Harry started up the steps, avoiding the familiar holes. "Once when Zanarkand still stood. This place was one of the most upstanding buildings, it had a view out over the plains to the south and the city and ocean through the other windows. I did have a place on the top floor for a long time but that was destroyed when this happened to the city. The rest of the building was Senator's apartments."

"Where are we going now then?" Rikku asked.

"For a time after Sin was created I lived here alone." Harry told him. "I watched as the Summoners went past and helped them out a bit until I finally decided to help them on their entire journeys." He paused outside a large door before he pushed his weight against them, triggering the mechanic systems he'd put in place of the original systems and with a groan they rolled into the walls and allowed him access. He paused just inside the apartment and sighed. "More recently this is where I lived with Simon Kem."

Harry heard Auron's startled gasp at the news even as he noticed Tidus looking around sadly. "Is this place safe?" Lulu asked, interrupting the tense moment.

"As safe as anywhere else." Harry announced. "We'll need to check the supports but I put a lot of work into subtly strengthening this building. It may look a little dilapidated but it's strong."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Late night**

Harry wasn't sure what awoke him. There wasn't supposed to be anybody up, he'd locked the apartment up so that nothing could get in without making so much noise that they'd all hear. Even so, Harry rose from his bed, put on his underwear, leather trousers and pulled his high-collared gilet over his shoulders before grabbing his sword and heading for the door. He didn't waste time with his socks or boots and didn't even bother doing up the jacket, leaving his torso exposed.

He unlocked his door and opened it as quietly as the rusted hinges allowed and walked silently down the hallway, past the numerous rooms the others slept in. The doors were all shut but he heard a low voice in the lounge at the end of the hall and made his way into the doorway. He caught sight of Tidus first, he was wearing his shorts and jacket but it was clear that he had been awoken since he was rather dishevelled. Harry was about to ask Tidus if he'd seen what made the noise when he realised that it was Tidus who had been talking to someone. He took another step into the room and came up short in horror. Tidus was talking to Simon.

"He lied to me!" Tidus hissed at Simon. Harry wondered how long they'd been talking for Tidus to have gotten past shock at seeing Simon standing before him.

"He didn't lie, Tidus." Simon's voice was soft, merely more than a breath of wind. Then again he was little more than a ghostly image made up of a thousand small pyreflies. "He didn't tell you everything straight away. There is a difference and if you realised for a moment that it wasn't his fault you came into existence the way you did you would realise that."

"Why didn't he tell me?" Tidus asked and hung his head. "Why didn't he tell me that I'm not alive!?"

"You're alive, Tidus." Simon whispered and flowed forwards slightly, resting a hand on Tidus' shoulder even though the gesture didn't actually settle on him. "It is strange I'll admit but your mother has a soul. I know that as a fact, I have spoken to her. Your father must have had a soul as it is that which has created the current Sin. If your father and mother had Souls, if the Sleepers have found a way to give their dreams real substance then you must also have a Soul, Tidus."

"You can prove my parents have Souls but you don't have any proof about me!" Tidus hissed angrily.

"Holy, Tidus." Harry spoke up from the doorway making them both look at him. Simon went through surprise before settling on resignation and sadness while Tidus went through a myriad of emotions including curiosity. "Your Final Overdrive is Holy. Only somebody with a Soul of their own could channel Souls, Tidus."

"How long have you been standing there?" Tidus asked him.

"Only a few moments." Harry swore before moving across the room, heading for the remains of the ornate fireplace. He paused in front of it and turned his head to look at Tidus. "Don't take your anger out on the dead, Tidus."

"I..." Tidus' mouth clicked as he shut it.

"I came to talk to him, Harry." Simon said. "I had to wait until you came here, until the pyreflies and the memories were strong enough to give me voice."

Harry nodded jerkily. It was one of the reasons he didn't live here anymore for any length of time, the temptation for Simon to keep visiting would grow too strong to resist and they'd never be able to function properly. "Why?" Harry asked.

"You know why, Harry." Simon sighed, making his voice almost impossible to hear. "Because he's hurting you."

Harry turned to look into the fireplace and reached out with his hand, with a small wisp of magic a fire burst into being and pushed the damp cold out of the room. He dropped his hand and the fire remained, even though there was no fuel. "It's not his fault, Simon." Harry told his old lover. "You can't blame him for reacting the way he did. Anybody else would react that way."

"If they found out they were an Aeon?" Simon asked. "Ironic that."

"What's ironic about that?" Tidus asked, more than a little irritated.

"Because if anybody can understand how you feel about this, Tidus, it's Harry." Simon smiled at him. "I'm running out of time." He spoke again before Tidus could ask for clarification.

"The pyreflies can only sustain his form and mind for a limited time." Harry explained before turning to look at Simon again. "Do you forgive me, Simon?"

"For being you?" Simon asked. "Of course I do, Harry. If there is anything about you that will never change it's your heart. You chose to give up your own freedom for the slim possibility of freeing the Fayths. I could never begrudge you that."

Harry shut his eyes for a moment and then opened them again to see the last of Simon's image fade from existence. "I'm sorry, Harry." Tidus spoke before Harry could. "I shouldn't have reacted..."

"You had every right to act the way you did, Tidus." Harry interrupted. "I knew you would ever since I met you. Nobody likes it when somebody else knows more about you then you do."

Tidus nodded and sat on the edge of a stone table. "So is that it for secrets now?" Tidus asked.

Harry paused and looked to the right side of the room before turning back. "Not quite, Tidus. There's another one but it has nothing to do with you." He admitted. "Everything else is an open book to you, if you want to know something then you can just ask me."

"But that one thing stays hidden?" Tidus asked. "Does it have something to do with the Great Aeon?"

"It does." Harry nodded.

"Harry? Is it possible that it could destroy Sin? Could it free my father?" Tidus asked.

"It could destroy Sin." Harry reluctantly admitted. "It would free your father and let him move on and it would stop the cycle from continuing. But then it would turn on the rest of the world and destroy it again and the second time it happened fewer people survived, if it happens again it could be the end of the world."

"And you'd be the only one to survive." Tidus frowned.

"Tidus, I know you're worried about this." Harry spoke softly as he moved closer to Tidus and knelt on the ground in front of him, bringing them level. "You're worried that if you find a way to destroy Sin permanently like the Sleepers want, though I don't see how, then you'll cease to exist along with the dream world creations. I promise, Tidus, I won't let that happen. I'll find a way to make sure you stay. You're as much a part of this world as any other I've met."

Tidus touched the side of his neck with his fingertips before placing the palm of his hand against Harry's skin, under the collar, and he smiled gently at Harry before leaning forwards and kissing him on the lips. "Let's go to bed?" Tidus asked as he pulled back slightly. Harry smiled in relief and nodded.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Zanarkand**

Zanarkand mostly laid in ruins, collapsed roads and buildings surrounded by water and enlivened only by the billions of pyreflies that lingered throughout the city, testament to all that had died over this city, both while it was filled with people and since it had become the final stage of the Pilgrimage. Fiends were attracted to the city in droves that only a few Guardians could handle and a Summoner's entourage had to fight their way into the centre of the city to the old ruins of the Blitzball Stadium which was little more than a crumbled ruin of broken platforms and stairways leading to Yunalesca's lair where the power of the Final Summoning resided.

As Harry and Auron led the group through the ruins of Zanarkand not much was said between the group, they were all thinking back over their time together and even though Harry knew that Tidus and Rikku were both trying to find a way to defeat Sin without the Final Summoning Harry knew that it simply wasn't that easy. The only other way to do it was with brute force, either with the Great Aeon or through other weapons but the Old World, the world he'd been born into, hadn't been able to overcome his Aeon form so what chance did these backwater Spirans have of defeating Sin?

As they entered the Blitzball Stadium they were inundated with images of past Summoners and their guardians and even a couple of Braska, Jecht and Auron as well as a few of Harry and people that Harry recognised throughout the years, the memory of their passing stored and recreated by the pyreflies. It wasn't until they walked into the Trials that Harry allowed the group to rest and let Yuna attend to everyone's wounds.

"What's next?" Tidus asked him loud enough for everyone to hear.

"A puzzle to complete." Harry told them all. "It's not all that difficult but we'll be attacked on the completion of the puzzle by the Spectre. Another of the Guardians of the Final Summon."

"Another one?" Rikku groaned.

"And it'll take Yuna and only three others to battle it." Harry told them, something that even Auron wasn't aware of. "We don't get to chose which three but I doubt it'll take me so we must all be prepared. When we fight it use all of your speed and agility and don't stand side by side. That's the most important thing to remember."

"Thanks." Lulu nodded, glad for the advice. Harry made quick work of the first puzzle while the others rested and then led them through into the next, and larger chamber where they were forced to work together to open the locks on the elevator that led down into Yunalesca's lair, just as the last lock snapped into being there was a surge of magic and a pillar of pyreflies sprung up through the hole in the centre of the room, swallowing any view they had through the chamber. The pyreflies leapt out at them, passing between them until all that Harry could see was flashing lights but he was prepared for it and didn't move a muscle whereas he could hear his group's surprise at suddenly being smothered. After only a few seconds the pyreflies retreated to the centre of the chamber and formed a solid wall around where the elevator was leaving Harry standing in silence.

He knew that within that cylinder of the pyreflies four of the group fought against the Spectre Keeper and he glanced around to see who was missing. Yuna was obviously gone as well as Kimahri, Lulu and finally Tidus.

Auron frowned at him and he turned his attention to Wakka and Rikku and finally backed away to the edge of the room to wait. "Where've they gone?" Wakka demanded.

"They are within that." Harry told him as he slid down the wall and rested his right arm on his right knee. "They'll be released once they defeat the Spectre Keeper but it's a fight of endurance more than anything else. The Spectre Keeper is fast and it keeps you on your toes but it's attacks are physical only. Lulu and Yuna should be able to take it down with magic while Tidus and Kimahri distract it."

"And if they don't do that?" Rikku asked.

"If they don't do that to start with they'll soon realise that they can't simply attack it with sword and spear." Auron grunted. "We discovered much the same when Jecht, Braska and I came through ten years ago."

Rikku sighed and sat on the floor beside Harry while Wakka paced the room and Auron leant against the wall a few metres away. Harry knew that Rikku was trying to find a way to talk to him but he also realised that she was struggling to find a way to ask Harry about another way to defeat Sin so he kept his mouth shut and pretended he didn't know she was troubled.

It was perhaps only ten minutes before the pyreflies sank down into the floor and the elevator was made visible in the centre of the chamber along with an exhausted looking Tidus, Kimahri, Yuna and Lulu. Harry stood and pulled Rikku up with him and made his way onto the elevator. "Have fun?" Harry asked with a smirk as he stood over Tidus who was flat out on his back.

"Sadistic bastard." Tidus grunted.

"Are you all okay?" Rikku asked.

"We're fine, Rikku." Lulu promised. "It was more tiring than anything else."

"Told you so." Harry chuckled. "That's the last thing we need to fight. We'll be with Yunalesca in a few minutes."

He saw the sad faces around them all but he ignored them as the elevator came alive with magic and began sinking down under the Blitzball Stadium and towards Yuna's destiny. All of their destiny, Harry supposed, since though Yuna wouldn't die here one of them would cease to exist as they were now and it couldn't be Harry or Auron. In fact Harry planned to not allow Tidus to do it either.

The elevator stopped at the bottom of the shaft and a door opened within the wall. The group filed off of the elevator and through into a long corridor that eventually opened out into a large chamber that had been built by pilgrims shortly after Yunalesca had destroyed the original Sin, it was clearly of a different design to the rest of Zanarkand and Harry had never really liked it, it was as if Yevon had made its claim to a part of Zanarkand.

"Are we nearly there?" Tidus asked him.

Harry nodded and turned to the set of stairs that led up to a heavy iron doorway. "Yunalesca." Harry intoned simply and watched as pyreflies formed her image just in front of the doors. She took in the group within a single glance but finally settled on Harry.

"Sir Guardian Harry." She greeted before doing the prayer to him. Harry didn't respond. Eventually she turned to Yuna though she wasn't offended by Harry's silence. "Welcome to Zanarkand. I congratulate you, Summoner, you have completed your pilgrimage. I will now bestow upon you that which you seek. The Final Summoning will be yours." She paused and looked over the group again rather regally. Harry noticed this time that her eyes settled for longer on Tidus and he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Now, choose." She continued unfazed about the fact she was repeating words she'd kept to for nearly a millennium. "You must choose the one whom I will change to become the Fayth for the Final Summoning. There must be a bond between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Aeon embodies. The bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin. A thousand years ago, I chose my husband Zaon as my Fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon. There is nothing to fear. You will soon be freed of worry and pain. For once you call forth the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate and final liberation. Your father, Braska, chose this path."

The group was shocked into silence by this decree and Tidus turned to look at Harry in horror. They'd all been preparing to lose Yuna who had decided long ago to sacrifice herself but now Yunalesca was telling them all that one of them had to sacrifice themselves and become the Fayth for the Final Summoning. Before anybody could speak their thoughts triggered a memory from the surrounding pyreflies and in the centre of the group three figures appeared, sending the group back out of the way as they recognised Braska, Jecht and a younger Auron. An angry Auron.

"It's not too late." Auron told Braska. "Let us turn back!"

"If I turn back who will defeat Sin?" Braska pointed out. "Would you have some other Summoner and his Guardians go through this?"

"But, my lord, there must be another way!" Auron argued, sounding very much like Tidus.

"This is the only way we got now!" Jecht spoke up making Tidus tense. "Fine. Make me the Fayth, I've been doing some thinking. My dream is back in the other Zanarkand. I wanted to make that runt into a star blitz player. Show him the view from the top, you know? But now I know there's no way home for me. I'm never gonna see him again. My dream's never gonna come true. So make me the Fayth. I'll fight Sin with you, Braska. Then maybe my life will have meaning, you know?"

"Don't do this, Jecht!" Auron shouted. "If you live... there must be another way. We'll think of something!"

"Believe me, I've thought this through." Jecht promised him. "Besides, I'm not getting any younger. I might as well make myself useful."

"Jecht." Braska interrupted.

"What?" Jecht rounded on his Summoner. "You're going to try to stop me too?"

"Sorry." Braska shook his head. "I mean thank you."

"Lord Braska!" Auron butted in again. "Jecht."

"What do you want now?" Jecht asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sin always comes back." Auron pointed out. "It comes back after the Calm every time. The cycle will continue and your deaths will be for nothing!"

"But there's always the chance that it won't come back this time." Braska argued. "It's worth trying."

"I understand what you're saying, Auron." Jecht told him seriously. "I'll find a way to break the cycle."

"You have a plan?" Auron asked.

"Jecht?" Braska prompted when he didn't speak quickly.

"Trust me I'll think of something." Jecht promised before he and Braska walked up the steps and vanished when they approached Yunalesca's silently watching form.

The real Auron took a few steps forwards and with a swing of his blade sliced up through the image of his younger self in well covered anger than Harry saw none-the-less. "And the cycle went on." Auron growled.

"We'll break it." Tidus announced.

"How?" Wakka argued. "You got a plan too?"

"If one of us is to become the Fayth." Lulu spoke up. "I volunteer."

"Me too, Yuna." Wakka nodded at her.

Harry turned from the conversation to study Yunalesca and she nodded at him before vanishing from view. Harry turned back to the group and saw Auron watching him. Harry crossed to him. "They will have to chose but it cannot be Tidus."

"Why not me?" Tidus interrupted having clearly heard Harry's words.

"Your body channels Myst." Harry said simply and turned to head for the steps. "Make your decision and then come through the door. I shall be waiting."

Tidus looked a bit wary at Harry's departure after those words but they all went back to their discussion as Harry walked through the door after Yunalesca. The scene inside was a strange one, it was one of magic. They were in a large chamber but stood upon a solid platform hanging in the centre and the view of the chamber's floor, walls and roof were blocked by a thick darkness. "Once again you journey here, Sir Guardian." Yunalesca stood in the centre of the platform.

"Evidently times are changing." Harry told her with a shrug of the shoulders as he walked up to her. "The Maesters of Yevon have all been killed, Yevon stands in chaos, the Aeons are plotting to release me and this group at your door wish for another way to defeat Sin."

"There is no other way." Yunalesca told him sternly. "This you know."

"There is another way." Harry shook his head. "But it is not a course I can allow."

"You know I do not disagree with you, Sir Harry." Yunalesca tilted her head. "Zaon, you and I had such a conversation when Sin first appeared. Releasing you to defeat Sin gains us nothing. We agreed with you and sacrificed ourselves to save Spira, a tradition that must be maintained if the world is to survive."

"I was worried that the other Fayths had gotten to you as well." Harry sighed.

"They have tried but I understand your fears and I do not believe their plan is worth the risk it entails." Yunalesca shook her head slowly.

"What plan?" Harry asked and straightened up in anticipation. He knew they'd been plotting and that they'd caved to his Aeon's need for release but he didn't know how they could believe it could come out as a victory and not as the complete destruction of Spira. If Yunalesca could tell him though he could know what they were thinking, and perhaps find a way to stop them from trying.

Yunalesca made to open her mouth but the doors behind Harry swung open and she turned her head to look past him. Harry growled angrily and turned to see the entire group walking across the platform.

"Have you chosen the one to become the Fayth?" Yunalesca asked regally.

"Might I ask something first?" Yuna asked politely. "Will Sin come back even if I use the Final Summoning and defeat it?"

Harry was the one to answer Yuna's question. "Like I have said Yuna, Sin is immortal. The Aeon that defeats it becomes the new Sin. It is a cycle."

"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny." Yunalesca continued. "It is neverending."

"Neverending?" Wakka frowned and tried to voice what he was feeling. Harry had known this would happen, it always did. "But if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back? Right?"

"Will humanity ever attain such purity?" Yunalesca asked with humour.

"This cannot be!" Lulu gasped, showing more emotion than she had since faced with her old Summoner. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement. It's been our only hope all of these years!"

"Hope is comforting. It allows us to accept fate, however tragic is must be." Yunalesca told them.

Harry winced as a figure exploded out of pyreflies amongst them. It was Auron again, shouting at Yunalesca. "No!" It yelled. "Where is the sense in all of this? Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them. Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him."

"They chose to die, because they had hope." Yunalesca's voice was faint and it was strange since the memory was standing in the exact spot that the real one was currently occupying. Harry glanced at a strained looking Auron and Harry knew that this was the moment where the Guardian's life had ended. Even as Harry thought it the spectre of Auron lunged forwards with his sword aimed at Yunalesca. The superimposed ghost of Yunalesca lifted an arm and the image of Auron was sent flying through the group only to land on his head. Harry eyed the body for a moment before it faded from existence. At least he had died for what he believed in. Harry had tried to find Auron after Braska and Jecht had defeated Sin and this was the reason he had been unsuccessful.

"The reason I've let this go on for so long, why I've let Yevon retain its rule with its lies for almost a thousand years, is because of this one concept." Harry said, drawing their attention to himself. "In all the years since Sin was created Summoners and Guardians have given their lives to defeat Sin, perhaps just for a short while, but that decision and the hope of a bright future given by Yevon allow the people of Spira to strive towards that future. To actually live their lives rather than despair."

"I notice you've never sacrificed yourself." Wakka commented.

"Sir Harry is an immortal." Yunalesca spoke up. "If he were to become Sin..."

"There'd be nothing in Spira that could kill it." Harry finished for her ignoring the other reason that Yunalesca hadn't pointed out. As a Fayth he couldn't have become the Final Summoning.

"Now chose." Yunalesca concluded. "Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"

"No one." Harry sighed at Yuna's declaration. She clearly didn't get it and he knew this would happen with her, she was simply too noble, she'd sacrifice herself but not one of her Guardians. "I live for the people of Spira, and would have gladly died for them. But no more. The Final Summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away."

Harry knew that would annoy Yunalesca more than anything else and he stepped into the argument. "Yuna, watch your words. Yunalesca gave her life to give Spira a fleeting chance at a future and she's trapped here now for eternity just like I am. Away from those that we love, alone!" Harry growled at her. "I and the others may have committed horrible crimes for this punishment but Yunalesca did it out of her heart and for no other reason!"

"My father died believing in a false hope!" Yuna yelled at him and drew her summoning staff. "He wanted to remove Spira's sorrow, not cover it up with lies! I won't do this with false hope!"

"You stand against us?" Auron spoke up as he pulled his sword.

"I warned you." Harry said quietly to them before half turning to face Yunalesca, meeting her eyes for the third time they had been in this situation, normally it was after a Guardian had lost their Summoner to the Final Aeon.

"Harry!" Tidus sounded pained. Harry glanced at him to see Rikku had her hand around his wrist. Harry winced and shook his head before turning back to Yuna just in time to see her summoning staff flash with the red light of a spell. Harry span sharply, catching the Fira spell she had learnt from Lulu against his Quatra Bracer. He released his sword as he spun and with a vicious sweep the blade sliced straight through the summoning staff, cracking the weapon and sending the shard flying across the platform before they exploded against the ledge as the magic inside it was released.

Harry shoved a hand out towards her and a wave of hot air swept her off her feet and back through the others, leaving her to struggle to her feet. Harry let the tip of his sword touch the ground and lightening flew from the metal and from himself, leaping across the ground and striking the group. Auron caught the lightning on his sword and Lulu, Tidus and Rikku managed to throw up magical shields against them but Wakka and Kimahri were sent flying as well.

Lulu was the first to strike and Harry only had the warning that the Jewelled Staff gave him as the jewels flashed an angry red and black before the air around Harry thickened. Harry crouched down and threw up the most powerful shell shield he could conjure, protecting himself as the Flare ripped apart the platform's surface all around him. The air burned with the magic but as it faded Harry simply straightened, unharmed much to Lulu's shock and horror. The time Harry had been fighting them was enough for Yunalesca to call up her power and even as Harry straightened up vines shot past him and smashed into Auron, Lulu and Tidus, sending the three flying backwards with nasty cuts on their arms and legs.

Harry turned to her in the moment's pause. "Don't kill them if you can help it and don't harm Tidus." Yuna was more of an Undead in this form. Her body was enshrouded by vines that linked her to the platform and her body was raised almost three feet from the floor. She nodded at him and lashed out at the group with a Fire spell that Lulu protected them from. It was merely a distraction though and Harry lunged forwards, aiming to disarm and incapacitate them one at a time. If Yuna wouldn't do the Final Summon then Harry would make sure that somebody like Dona or Isaaru could.

Wakka threw his spiked ball at Harry but Harry deflected it with his blade moments before his attack crashed against Auron's block. Their swords rang as Harry's blade scrapped across Auron's. Harry retreated from the attack, spun low to the ground, summoned his own magic to him and as the sword crashed into Auron's once again the white light of a Holy spell flashed between them. It spread from the point of contact, down Auron's sword and through his body sending him flying backwards as the Holy spell ate into his unnaturally sustained body.

Harry was already ignoring him though as an instants warning had him leaning backwards. Kimahri's spear darted down past his face and chest as the Ronso warrior jumped at him. Harry spun his body and kicked the shaft of the halberd with his foot, not hard enough to break it unfortunately but hard enough to send Kimahri's attack off balance and making the Ronso stumble through his landing. Harry wasn't allowed to follow through on the attack though as fire erupted between him and Kimahri, catching Harry's right arm in the process. He backpedalled even as he cast a cure on the burns and finally squared off against the group's Mage. At least their Mage now that they were fighting against Harry.

His eyes flickered around without taking his sight from Lulu and he took in Wakka, Tidus and Rikku trying to fight Yunalesca while Yuna tried to aid Auron as well as keep the trio in shape. Kimahri quickly recovered and soon he was waiting to pounce beside Lulu but he'd seen the ease that Harry had taken Auron, his biggest threat, out of the fight and he had more sense than to attack so recklessly.

Lulu on the other hand was scared. Harry could see it and he knew why. She knew that at any point Harry could kill every one of them on that platform, all it would take was one of his Ultimas and that would be the end of the fight. They all knew that but Lulu knew how much of a disadvantage they had against him. Lulu made the first move as she stabbed out with the staff using the spell she'd cast last knowing that it would be the fastest to cast. A second Flare lashed out at Harry but channelled as it was it was like a torrent from the end of the crystal rather than an explosion. Harry shielded himself again even as he felt his leather gilet begin to smoke. He crouched down to the ground and cast a spell downwards. The Quake spell acted like a huge sledge hammer. Yunalesca wasn't affected because of the way she was created and Harry was prepared for it but the ground heaved upwards sending everyone stumbling. Lulu's spell failed as her concentration slipped and Harry decided on the best way to take her out of the fight. As she got to her feet again Harry cast the very spell he had taught her to cast in Home.

She cried out in horror as the Death spell overcame her but she knew what to do. She would have been dead except that Harry had no intention of actually killing her which meant her desire to survive easily won out over Harry's spell. She escaped it like Harry knew she would but her inattention to the outside world cost her the fight and Harry slammed the hilt of his sword up under her chin before Kimahri could stop him. She went out like a light and the Jewelled Staff fell to the ground with a clash of metal on stone.

With Yuna unarmed and Auron and Lulu out of the fight the group's numbers were beginning to mean even less than they had at the start of the fight. Harry parried a blow from Kimahri while trying to keep an eye on Yunalesca who was showing the signs of Tidus, Wakka and Rikku's speed and agility against her solid and slow form. She had a few cuts and scratches as well as a large frozen gash in her side, probably from Tidus. Also quite a few of her vines lay decaying on the ground around her. Tidus, Rikku and Wakka weren't faring much better though. They were littered with cuts and wounds and Rikku was looking rather ill, probably from a poison.

Harry decided Yunalesca could defend herself for a little longer and turned his attention back onto Kimahri in time to dodge a heavy strike and kick at his right leg. The Ronso stumbled and retaliated, using the Ronso style of fighting fast and hard. Unfortunately for Kimahri, Harry had been fighting Ronsos for hundreds of years. Harry sliced deep into Kimahri's upper arm, cutting into the muscle and in Kimahri's brief flinch Harry stepped into his defensive circle, placed his hand onto Kimahri's furred chest and sent a sleeping spell into his body, letting him collapse to the ground to join Auron and Lulu.

He finally turned his complete attention on the final four Guardians and as he approached from the side he threw a healing spell at Yunalesca. Being Undead it wasn't just a simple Curaga but a binding of his magic into an energy that her body could harness and heal itself with. She rippled with the extra energy and her next attack sent Tidus, Wakka and Rikku hurtling backwards but before Harry could knock the three out properly magic throbbed through the chamber and Harry knew he'd overlooked something. Yuna's strength as a Summoner. The same strength that he'd first noticed when she'd first summoned Valefor with such ease in Besaid.

Three pillars of light erupted around the platform and from them came three distinctly different figures. The Magus Sisters in all their power and splendour as the third most powerful Aeon in Spiran history. And she'd summoned them without the help of her Staff. Light erupted through the chamber, even showing the walls around them and before Harry could do more than bring up his own magic their powers erupted towards Yunalesca. It sliced through her like lightning, joined together and exploded outwards in a pyramid of power and lights. Harry flung himself backwards but still got hit by the tail end of the blast, burning the back of his left arm and setting light to the bottom of his left trouser leg. He put it out quickly and cast a quick Cura spell for his arm as he rose and stared sadly at the lingering form of Yunalesca, fading quickly.

"Be at peace, Yunalesca, this is no longer your problem." Harry told her just as she faded from existence with a sad expression at Harry yet he noticed a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes at being free again. Harry rounded on a trembling and exhausted Yuna with angry eyes, completely ignoring the three Magus Sisters until Yuna tried to command them to attack him. His head flashed to Gabrielle, the tallest of the three sisters to see her not moving. They stared at each other for a moment before the Magus Sisters vanished and Yuna collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

"Harry!" Tidus cried at him as the three remaining Guardians stayed close together, holding their weapons. Harry simply stood still in the centre of the platform amidst broken rubble. The three glanced around, taking in Yuna, Lulu, Kimahri and Auron before turning back to Harry. "There's no point in us..."

"You idiots!" Harry shouted and a wave of magic forced them back a step. It was simply reacting to his anger now. "How could you all be so stupid?"

"We had to..." Wakka tried. "It was all a lie."

"I've had to watch Sin ravage this world for a millennium!" Harry roared, his right arm was shaking, making the sword catch the light in the chamber and reflect it across the broken floor. "The only reprieve was the Calms, watching the people of Spira rebuilding their lives and you idiots have just destroyed the only hope that this world had!"

"What hope?" Rikku asked sharply. "It wasn't a real hope."

"The hope that you could raise children through a small bit of peace." Harry argued. "Now there's nothing to stop Sin. You've doomed Spira so you can all be righteous and rebel against Yevon but Yunalesca was never a part of your ridiculous teachings! Her sacrifice was real and you've destroyed it." Harry took a step forwards. "I gave up my chance to pass on to help you and now you've doomed me to an eternity of watching Sin destroy everything!"

"We'll find a way!" Tidus told him. "A way to kill Sin once and for all and to free you!"

Harry scoffed at them. "You might feel righteous now, Tidus. You've fought against the corrupt teachings and won but what have you really achieved. In a few decades you'll all be gone and you can all leave this world and the destruction you've just caused but I'll have to witness it all, just as I have for two millennia!"

"Harry!" Tidus made to move towards him but Wakka grabbed him.

"Look what he did to the others, Tidus. Stay back." Wakka warned him, glancing nervously at the unconscious forms of their friends.

"Enjoy your new world." Harry told them sharply and strolled past them and out through the door, leaving them to help their friends. He was so angry as he left through Zanarkand that Myst spread from him, melting the surfaces of the ruins and sending even the strongest of the Fiends scurrying for cover.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	12. A sword through the heart

Bound Through the Ages

A/N; Please read the message in bold at the top of my profile regarding updates. Please enjoy.

Chapter 12; A sword through the heart

**Zanarkand**

Harry walked out of the door at a fast pace and it took him a moment before he spotted the beast hanging above Zanarkand. He'd been so furious that he'd completely missed the Myst leaking from him body in response to Sin's presence. He stopped a few paces outside of the old Blitzball stadium and merely looked up at the floating creature.

"Jecht, your son is as infuriating as you are." Harry told Sin even though it couldn't understand him. "He'll either save my soul or destroy Spira once and for all. You made a mistake by bringing him to me." Harry continued getting louder and his tone became angry. "Why did you bring him to me? Because of Tidus I let it be known who I am. Was that your plan? To release the Aeon to destroy you?"

Harry drew his sword from his back and levelled it at Sin who didn't even move. It was over three hundred metres high hanging about fifty metres off of the ground. This sword would barely be a pin prick. "If that was your plan it won't work!" Harry yelled. "I'd kill them all before they reached it!"

Harry dropped his sword so the tip hit the ground, shook his head and slotted the sword onto the catch on his back and turned to the south, aiming to cross the mountains and return to Bevelle to take his anger out on whatever might remain of the Maesters. He was perhaps half way across Zanarkand when Sin left the ruins, heading into the west and the frigid northern ocean. An hour after that he heard the faint throb of an Airship's engines and he turned to see the Highwind settle over the other side of the city for a while before it took back off and headed south, over his head and onwards.

That might be a problem but only if they put all the clues together and even then it wasn't an easy passage to make, especially if Harry was there to greet them. He stopped when a figure appeared out the pyreflies ahead of him and Harry almost brushed past him and continued but just couldn't do that to Simon. No matter how angry he was.

"Harry." His voice was barely a whisper but it was his real voice and not an echo. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Harry asked.

"You should be with Tidus." Simon told him.

"Open your eyes, Simon, there is no me and Tidus." Harry almost snarled but his voice betrayed his defeat. Yet again the world had come apart for Harry. Not like the Great Cataclysm and not as badly as when Simon had died but still dramatic for Harry. "I gave up being able to die. I gave up you so that I could free the others one day. And I made the decision because I thought I loved Tidus and that he loved me and would trust me."

"And now he's gone." Simon spoke sadly. "But that doesn't change what you stayed here for. The Fayths are still trapped. You can still free them."

"How?" Harry begged. "Tell me how!"

"You know how." Simon sighed. "Let them release it."

"No." Harry shook his head in denial. "You agreed with me. I told you what I really was and you agreed with me that there would never be a time when that was an option."

"But if there was ever a time, Harry, it's now. They are willing to use it and the other Fayths want it too." Simon sighed.

"Simon, no." Harry cried, tears on his face and he fell to his knees. "I can't kill so many people again. It's like a black cloud waiting to wipe everything out leaving only me behind. I can't murder so many people to be left standing at the end. I can't face that again, Si. Millions will die and I'll be left a shell afterwards and I won't recover this time. I won't, Si."

His answer was silence and he looked up to find Simon kneeling before him with such a lost expression on his face it broke Harry's heart all over again. "How can you love a monster, Simon?" Harry cried. "I might pretend to be a human but inside I'm the worst thing in Spira."

"Harry, you're the one thing that I can say with certainty is right in this world." Simon told him gently. "And no matter what happens I will always love you. And no matter what happened in there, Tidus will always love you."

"Si..." Harry sighed even as his old husband faded from view with a warm gust of air that settled into Harry's skin. Harry sat on the ground, wrapped his arms around his legs and cried as he pictured what the world would be like again if they released him. A dead world with only Harry to walk it. Alone for eternity.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Airship**

Tidus helped Lulu sit on one of the beds in the infirmary as he felt the ship lift up from the ground and bank around. Tidus sat next to her and wiped at his face, unable to keep his eyes completely dry and Lulu saw it and put her hand on his back.

"We should look for him." Wakka announced from across the room where he was helping Yuna to sit on another of the beds. Kimahri was also walking wounded as was Auron though he didn't show any wounds. Rikku, himself and Wakka were the only ones that weren't with serious injuries. Lulu was shaken to the core and pale as a ghost and Yuna was almost unconscious. They'd never been so badly beaten in their lives. It was true that they'd been able to defeat Yunalesca but there was no point in trying to convince themselves that they'd bettered Harry. He'd held back because he hadn't wanted to kill any of them but he'd still beaten Auron in seconds, Lulu and Kimahri in only a slightly longer time and then only not been able to protect Yunalesca because Yuna had surprised them all by summoning the most powerful Aeon she had without her staff and now she was half asleep because of it.

"You think we could find him?" Rikku asked. "He didn't look like he wanted anything to do with us and even if we do find him he could just kill us or beat us again and walk off."

"What did he do?" Cid asked walking up to them from the doorway.

"He turned on us is what he did." Wakka announced.

"He didn't turn on us." Tidus said as he stood up. "We turned on him and Yunalesca. Harry was right, Yunalesca had nothing to do with Yevon. All she wanted was for people to be able to live with a little bit of peace. That's what Harry has fought for these last thousand years."

They all looked at him with sad expressions. "That doesn't change what we have to do." Yuna made Wakka help her sit up. "We have to end this now. Destroy Sin once and for all and let Spira rebuild itself, no matter how bad it is afterwards. Spira has always rebuilt itself after every Sin that came here and we can do so again. Just once more."

"We can only try." Auron nodded.

"If Harry doesn't kill us." Tidus spoke up.

"He won't kill us." Rikku argued.

"He will." Yuna gasped tiredly. "They are all telling me it. All of the Aeons. Harry will kill us all before we do it again. Tidus is the only one that he might hesitate to kill. We have to use that." She said just before wincing in pain.

"What?" Wakka asked in concern.

"It's the only choice. He won't kill Tidus." She winced again even as she spoke.

"I'd imagine the Aeons do not like the idea of using Tidus against Harry." Lulu spoke up.

"What do you say, Tidus?" Auron asked.

Tidus couldn't answer and merely turned towards the windows and sat against one of the pillars and watched the clouds brush past them.

"The first problem." Yuna continued. "Is where we're supposed to find the Fayth of this Aeon."

Cid glanced at Rikku who nodded and turned to Yuna. "That we may be able to help you with."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Three days later**

Harry walked into the small port town on Aracabo. It was one of the small towns that lined the eastern coast of Spira. Not normally travelled to because it didn't have a temple but it was a major port town for supplies travelling to Bevelle which, even though it sat on the coast, didn't have a port. The town was only a few miles south of Bevelle but the road between them was quite well travelled by people from the city wanting to travel south by boat.

Harry wanted to find an Al-bhed ship in port which wasn't uncommon but because of the recent troubles there were none but Harry had spotted two Al-bhed within the forges of the city and they'd had the look of sailors about them. He spied on them for a while and found that they were looking for a few spare parts for their ship. They got what they needed quite easily and Harry followed them down to the docks to a small boat moored up to the jetty and as they were about to cast off with their supplies Harry stepped up to the boat and put his hand on the bollard to stop him casting off the line.

"What is it that you want?" The man asked him in struggling common.

"**I wish to talk to your Captain."** Harry told him in perfect Al-bhed making him snap his head up.

"**You don't look like an Al-bhed."** The man frowned.

"**I'm not. I'm a friend of Cid though."** Harry told him. **"Where is your ship?"**

"**About a mile out around in the bay."** The man told him. **"What do you want with our Captain?"**

"**I need transport." **Harry told him. **"I can pay for it and it isn't too far away especially if you're travelling south."**

"**We'll take you to the ship but whether to accept is up to the Captain."** Harry was told and he cast off the boat and stepped onboard. The trip was short but Harry helped with the oars and soon they were entering a bay where one of the normal Al-bhed motor ships sat at a short stay anchor, they hadn't planned on remaining here for long. There were about ten members of crew on these ships and their main purpose since the creation of Home was to transfer supplies to the city but now they'd be returning to their old purpose, travelling between the trade ports and the Al-bhed travellers. Obviously one of the crew had noticed the additional person on the ship because as the little boat came alongside and Harry climbed up onto the deck he was met by almost the entire crew. The Al-bhed had become less suspicious after the creation of Home but that would fall away now.

"**What's this?"** One of them, probably the Captain asked as the two crew from the boat climbed up onto the deck.

"**He wanted to talk to you, Captain. About transport."** The same man told him.

"**Transport of what?"** The Captain asked. **"And what is he offering?"**

"**Transport of only myself."** Harry cut in making the Captain realise he could speak and understand Al-bhed perfectly. **"And I can pay well."**

"**And where is it you want to go?"** The Captain asked.

"**Cid led an expedition a few months ago to the old Ruins where you found the Ancient Airship and salvaged it."** Harry told them making them all flinch in surprise. **"I wish to return there as fast as possible. I believe it likely that Cid has taken the Airship there."**

"**You seem to know much of the Al-bhed."** The Captain told him.

"**I'm older than I look."** Harry said bluntly. **"I travelled with Cid when he was younger and helped him unit the tribes and helped to build Home."**

"**You're the Harry he talks about?"** The Captain raised his eyebrows.

"**You know that name?"** Harry asked. The Captain obviously knew Cid personally.

"**We're on our way to find Cid, if you say he's going out into the ocean then we'll take you where you want to go and see if we can find him."** The Captain nodded. **"We won't ask for payment unless he's not there."**

Harry nodded. **"I can accept that."**

"**Find him quarters."** The Captain announced. **"You can dine with us in two hours if you wish. I'll send someone for you."**

Harry nodded and let himself be led out of the way so the crew could get back to their work without him getting in the way even though Harry had lived on ships before and he and Cid had travelled Spira on one of these creating an ever growing Al-bhed fleet before Harry had led them to Bikanel Island.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Early morning**

The ancient ruins weren't that far out to sea and the ship quickly travelled along the north easterly course to a position not far from the ruins of Zanarkand. Harry's power had formed and routed itself in one position throughout two millennia, impervious to the tectonic plates. The sea bed here was the only place that Harry could trace back to his old life. This was Great Britain, sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by the sheer power of the Great Aeon taking most of Europe down slowly with it and then Russian. The Himalayas had sunk into the encroaching water to form the desert islands that formed Bikanel and the population of the world had fled to the Americas even as land grew up from the sea bed to form the shape that was Spira.

This was a place where the normal laws of physics were twisted by Harry's power. The water was kept away from the structure that sat in the undersea cliffs of rock that had been attracted to the source of the power forming an underwater mountain that the Zanarkand citizens had built their station into the side of. A way to protect the power and ensure it didn't fall into the wrong hands. In the end it had been they who had been the wrong hands. The Ancient Ruins where Tidus had first been taken to by Sin had been the surface station set up on the top of a cliff that almost reached the surface. Now as they approached the sea that Harry hadn't come to in hundreds of years Harry could feel the power surging through his body and his eyes, he knew, were taking on a rainbow coloured texture to them. Reds, golds and blues flickered across the surface of his emerald green eyes as he looked out over the water and the Al-bhed forming here.

The Highwind hung above the water, grappled down into the water to the research centre and anchored around were three other Al-bhed ships. Harry turned from the stem as he heard footsteps and the Captain of the ship blanched slightly when he saw Harry's eyes but made no comment. The Al-bhed's eyes were all bi-colour so it wasn't all that strange to the man and he accepted it though he didn't know it was because Harry's body was filling with Myst.

"**It seems you were right about our destination." **The man told him.

"**I had hoped to be wrong."** Harry sighed. **"Have you spoken to Cid?"**

"**I just called him."** The Captain nodded. **"He wishes to speak to you."**

The Captain held out to him a small device that Harry recognised as a communications unit and he stepped up onto the guard rail of the ship and balanced there as he looked across the water at the hovering Highwind. **"Cid." **Harry spoke simply letting the device send his words to the Highwind.

"**Harry!"** It was definitely Cid's voice.

"**I'm only going to say this once, Cid. I like you and I've always liked the Al-bhed but I'm very tempted right now to send a spell at the Highwind that will blast it to shreds."** Harry told him with a deadly seriousness to his voice that told everyone listening that he wasn't joking. He pulled his sword and held it towards the Captain. **"Cid, where are the others?"**

"**Down looking through the ruins."** Cid told him.

"**You're going to call them back now."** Harry ordered him.

"**I can't do that, Harry. We have to do this."** Cid told him.

"**You have to destroy the world?" **Harry spat. **"You're fools. This will do nothing but destroy everything you know."**

"**Or rewrite it."** Cid argued.

"**Cid, you're a fool. Get out of here." **Harry hissed and flung the communications device at the Captain listening to him in shock before Harry dove off of the ship even as it still cut through the water. He swam away from the propellers before diving deeper into the water, using a well controlled Demi spell on himself to make him sink faster until he could see the entrance to the station and the airship dock.

Somehow in their three days head start they'd found the opening at the base of the underwater mountain that led into the twisted labyrinth of traps and creatures that Harry had created to guard the entrance to his power. He swam through it before locking it closed and barring it with more weight than the Al-bhed could open from the outside. An Al-bhed submersible sat in the water ahead of him and he swam up past it and into the dingy atmosphere of the tunnels.

There was quite a bit of equipment set up on the bank of the underwater lake and all of it was Al-bhed and as Harry moved into the first large cavern he found a station set up with Al-bhed walking around. They turned to look at him in surprise and it took them slightly longer to decide what to do with him as it took him to act. A wave of magic shot through the area, destroying all of their equipment and throwing them across the room, all unconscious before they landed. He surprised himself by realising that he'd been a moment's thought away from escalating his attack to an Ultima and then surprised himself again that he'd hesitated to kill them.

He walked through the debris of his sledgehammer like attack and further into the darkness of the tunnels, lit by a string of lights until those ran out and only a few battery lamps marked junctions in the labyrinth like tunnels. Harry knew the way off by heart though and he wasn't waylaid by any of the creatures down here who merely watched him walk past and none of the traps caught him because he had been the one to lay them.

He eyed a few of the creatures noting once again the effect that living down here had on them. They were rife with the Myst that crept through the hallways, trickles that escaped his core power and mutated the creatures, sometimes into beautiful creatures and other times into creatures out of nightmares but all had a deadly bite.

This place had been built to delay anyone that came down here and possibly kill them if they weren't prepared for it and Harry had added more teeth to it after Zanarkand had been destroyed but it was basically three parts. The inner core which was almost identical to the Chamber of the Fayth in any of the temples yet it held merely the power of his Aeon since Harry was the Fayth. That was locked behind the most intricate doorway and only Harry had the key for that and it was so big that no mortal magic could effect it. The door itself was part of the mountain, attempt to force it open and the entire structure would collapse crushing or drowning everyone in there.

Before that was what Harry had dubbed his vault. It held anything that Harry had scavenged from the old Earth that he didn't want in the hands of Spiran people. Nuclear missiles, tanks and weapons that the Zanarkand citizens had agreed were better off sealed away. Harry had added things to it since including the original system that Seymour Guado had stumbled upon with machina to display the memories from the Farplane. Harry had created it to show the people of Zanarkand what would happen if they summoned the Great Aeon to defend their home but it could show a lot more than just the destruction of the Earth.

On the outside of that was this labyrinth and to get from one to the other was a group of creatures not unlike the one that Tidus had fought in Macalania Temple. Elementals. Harry had taken the ice one from here to guard the Shifting Glacier but there were more.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Tidus looked over at the others as they stumbled into the largest chamber they'd come across so far. They'd been seeking their way through the labyrinth for a day now and it was only because of the Al-bheds help that they'd gotten this far with energy left to spare. There had been three Al-bheds with them not including Rikku but they'd grown more and more anxious over the lack of communication from the base camp near to the underwater lake in the last half an hour and two of them had retraced their steps the most direct way to go re-establish communications.

The room they were in was the first clearly artificial structure. The cavern itself was rectangular in plan but there were built up tiers on either side of the long room and glowing crystals on the ceiling gave them a dull light to see by making them all a little more relieved but Tidus wasn't fooled. He knew that Harry had created this place to guard the Great Aeon from people like him that would use it and that meant he hadn't created this room for no reason.

Tidus had given it three days thought before he'd finally come to a decision. Harry was right that the Great Aeon should never be allowed to be released but he'd spoken to all of the Aeons in the last few days and their plan was for their release and Tidus knew that Harry wanted that beyond all things and if he had a chance to give Harry that then no matter how much Harry argued against it he'd try to see it to the end and he'd take the blame for releasing the Great Aeon on Spira again. Harry wouldn't be to blame this time.

"I don't like this." Tidus announced tightening his grip on the Shifting Glacier as if Harry's ties to it could give him strength. "It's too quiet in here."

"There's the door, let's just get through here." Yuna announced and the group made to move just as a scream made them stumble to a stop and spin around in time to see their Al-bhed counterpart crushed into the stone wall of one of the lower tiers. He'd obviously leant on the wall.

"It's a trap!" Auron announced just as the remains of the, now dead, Al-bhed were dropped to the ground and the stones erupted outwards forming a creature the same size as the War Drone that they'd destroyed when they'd first entered Mount Gagazet. It wielded a huge battle hammer made with a stone end and it swung it clear through them forcing them all to dive out of the way. "Run!" Auron yelled and they all turned to sprint for the other end when the air flexed around them and sent them all hurtling to the side and a shade of a creature appeared in the ebbs of the wind that blew around like a tornado.

"What are they?" Wakka shouted over the roaring sound of flames as a ten foot tall being of fire sprung up from the ground on one side and a waterfall formed the vague shape of a snake on the other side.

"Elementals!" Tidus yelled. "I fought one of ice when I got this sword from Harry!"

"Yuna!" Lulu yelled. "We're going to need the Aeons!"

Yuna nodded and from the middle of the group she began trying to summon as fast as she could but it seemed that the Aeons wanted to help and they helped her bring them into this realm and even as Ifrit burst into existence the creature in front of Tidus attacked them. The water snake shot towards him and out of instinct alone he met the charge with the full weight of his body slamming the Shifting Glacier into the snake's front making it shriek and twist in pain as the ice tried to freeze it. It turned in on itself and burst into a shower of water and Tidus thought he'd killed it for a moment before the water drew together and erupted at him, hitting him square in the chest and throwing him back through the air.

He was caught in mid flight by large wings as Valefor burst from the ceiling and caught him before placing him quickly on the ground and turning to attack the rock golem. Tidus recollected himself in the war they'd dropped into. There were four of the Elementals against the group who were doing nothing more than helping the Aeons that Yuna had brought into the battle. Ifrit was attacking the fire Elemental, drawing from it even as it tried to harm it while Ixion, strengthened against water was now attacking Tidus' own snake. Yojimbo traded blows with the Earth Elemental along with Valefor and Bahamut was using all of his magic to push back the air elemental until with a solid attack of energy Bahamut scattered the winds with a shriek of pain from it.

Ifrit extinguished the fires quite quickly and Ixion's lightning strikes killed the water snake and together they destroyed the Earth Elemental but as the Aeons faded from sight Yuna was having to be held up by Kimahri. It had been a short battle as things went but if it wasn't for the Aeon's desire to help them and thus allow Yuna to summon more than one of them they'd be dead right now.

"Let's get out of here." Rikku announced pulling herself up from the ground. They checked themselves over. Tidus had a bruise on his chest but was otherwise okay and by the looks of it he was the only one to take an injury before the Aeons had joined the battle. They all drank a little bit of water before turning to head further into the massive maze that Harry had created for one purpose. To kill anyone that wanted to wield the power of the Great Aeon.

Tidus jerked as he heard a very distinct sound echoing through the air and he turned to look at the others as he realised what it was. It was clapping. Somebody was clapping, very slowly in that very sarcastic way of somebody making fun of another. They all moved about nervously until a movement up to the right drew Tidus' attention and then all of the others until they were all looking up at the top tier that covered the right of the room and at the figure standing there in his black leather trousers and red sleeveless and high coloured vest. The handle of his sword was just poking up over his right shoulder and Tidus surprised himself with his initial reaction. He tightened his hand on the Shifting Glacier.

Harry stopped clapping and a sarcastic smile spread across his face but Tidus could see the most devastating emotion behind Harry's cold expression. Harry was deeply and truly wounded. Betrayed to the worst possible level. "I'm impressed." Harry announced loudly. "Nobody's beaten them before but still it does you no good."

"Run." Auron hissed and as a group they turned for the door that continued deeper into the underwater mountain.

Heat smacked into the seven of them just as roaring flames erupted across the exit to the room. Harry had blocked their escape. "You think I'm just going to let you run away from me?" Harry actually laughed but it wasn't an amused one and he drew his sword before leaping into the air, spinning the blade around to his right and with a thud his boots hit the dirt on the floor and he twisted around, scratching the twin blade across the ground. They were in no doubt that this time Harry wasn't going to pull any punches.

"Let us do this!" Yuna demanded and Harry raised his sword and levelled it at her throat with only twenty feet between them.

"I'm very much capable of killing you all. The only reason I haven't merely done so already is because I'd rather you walked out of here alive." Harry told her and through her the others.

"Not without a way to destroy Sin once and for all and free the Fayths." Tidus spoke up.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Harry hissed angrily. "All this Aeon can do is destroy. You can't ever save anyone with it."

"The other Aeons don't agree with you." Auron spoke up with a small grin. "Who are you to deny them?"

"Shut up you undead fool!" Harry spat. "You're a mere child compared to me. _They_ are mere children compared to me!"

"Valefor, Ifrit and Yojimbo aren't." Tidus pointed out.

Harry glared at him but didn't argue. "I don't want to kill you all but you clearly aren't going to listen to me. There's only one of you that can summon the Aeon and once she's dead the rest of you are no risk to Spira."

"We won't let you touch her!" Lulu took a step forward to stand between Harry and Yuna.

"She was willing to sacrifice her life to save Spira. Right now the threat to Spira is her." Harry pointed out and moved his sword, levelling it to his right. "If you fight me then you'll die. None of you has the power to beat me, let alone kill me. And Yuna, if you try to summon any of them at all I will kill you all with one spell and no matter how powerful Lulu has become she can't destroy me."

"Lulu, put out that fire and then run!" Tidus hissed. "Take Yuna through and get inside. We'll delay him."

"No!" Harry snapped and clenched his hands. The fires roared high but Lulu jumped into action to try to dispel them but Harry fed the fires more energy than she could counter even as he deflected the spiked ball that Wakka flung at him with all of his might. His sword swayed back and with a delicate twist he blocked Kimahri's halberd and then another twist blocked Auron's sword before he flipped backwards to avoid Tidus' strike in his direction.

Tidus was faster than the others and a single second later the Shifting Glacier struck at Harry who blocked it, twisted the blade to lock Tidus in place. "I don't want to kill you Tidus."

"I don't think you're capable of it, Harry." Tidus told him and he knew there was a pleading tone to his voice.

"You don't get it do you, Tidus." Harry sighed. "In here I'm not Harry." Harry made his move and activated the ice cell on his blade which was already filming over with ice from its contact with the Shifting Glacier and with a spell from himself ice shot across the room in all directions sending Tidus, Wakka, Auron and Kimahri tumbling backwards. And the fight began, a fight that none of them could really follow. Only Harry seemed to be able to watch all of them at the same time and his blocks were effortless and tireless. Tidus just couldn't see any opening in his fighting style.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Harry blocked Auron's strike and flexed the tiring muscles in his arm. It had been an awfully long time since he'd taken on four opponents of their calibre all at the same time and it was actually starting to tax him but even if his strength was waning slightly his speed and skill were not so easily afflicted and it was more than a compromise against Auron and Kimahri who were both physically stronger than him. One because he was a Ronso and the other because he was already dead and therefore didn't tire as easily.

Tidus and Wakka however were starting to show the serious signs of their exhaustion and Harry had left several injuries on Wakka to take him out of the proper battle and as he pushed away Auron's sword he blasted Wakka completely out of the fight with a bolt of lightning that sent him arching back across the room.

Auron, Kimahri and Tidus took pause as they were once again reminded of Harry's magical power but Harry was distracted in using magic because of Rikku, Lulu and Yuna's attempts to clear their way deeper into the mountain. It was Tidus that reinitiated their battle by leaping at Harry with a lightning-fast slash of his sword. Harry jumped the sword, landed with one foot on the hilt and just as Tidus was drawing back he twisted around, bringing his sword in an arc behind him to smack into the Shifting Glacier even as he used the hilt to spring board off from. The force of the complex attack sent Tidus flying in one direction and his sword in another.

Harry landed and parried a blow from Kimahri even as Tidus landed in a heap and didn't move. He'd concern himself with Tidus' health after the rest were unarmed and with a deft flick of his sword Kimahri's halberd was pinned to his left leg and with a side jump the Ronso was forced to release it in favour of remaining upright and Harry grabbed the shaft of the halberd and drove the end into Kimahri's ribs, knocking the wind out of him.

This time it was his turn to be surprised. His connection to the fires that blocked the way onwards vanished as a wall of cold air and mist slammed through them all and the heat from Harry's fires vanished as Lulu and Yuna combined their magic through the Staff to obliterate Harry's spell. Auron took advantage of his split second's distraction and lashed out at him and his sword sliced into his left shoulder, splitting skin and muscle as it cut through.

Harry staggered out away from the blade and hissed in pain but knew better than to concentrate on healing it especially when Rikku shouted for them all to run.

"Stop!" Harry yelled and straightened up, letting his sword touch the ground and as they heard the tone in his voice they turned to look at him and gasped as they saw his green glowing eyes just before the green fire spread across his entire body and down his sword.

The green flames reached up above Harry and flickered to his right as if caught in a wind but all the others felt was a wave of utter stillness spread through the cavern and they all knew that Harry could kill them all at a moment's notice.

Harry moved to walk forward but his head snapped to his left to see Tidus back on his feet and glowing with a bright white light. He was unarmed but the Holy spell that had taken over his body was more than just a weapon. Tidus leapt at him, the Holy power boosting his speed to a speed that the others could barely follow. The Shifting Glacier glowed white before leaping up to meet him in mid jump and Tidus caught it and brought it down on Harry's head only for Harry to block it. Green met white and burst out in opposite directions, the group protected by the flash of white.

Harry twisted their blades and locked the Shifting Glacier. "Tidus, stop!" Harry hissed though his words reached every corner of the cavern yet didn't echo.

"Not until you do!" Tidus told him.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because you have to free them." Tidus told him. "And if I have to take the blame just like you did then I will. I was created for a reason and this is it."

"You weren't created to suffer, Tidus." Harry hissed angrily. "And I won't let them summon it when it's the world that will suffer."

"It's not the world I care about." Tidus told him sharply. "It's your happiness."

"And you think this will help me?" Harry scoffed. "You have no idea what it's like!"

"To watch the world be destroyed?" Tidus asked. "I've lost my home, Harry. I don't have anything to go to except for you and I won't see you in pain for another thousand years once I'm dead when I can do something to end Spira's pain right here and now, no matter what the cost is."

"I'll just kill them all to stop you." Harry warned him.

"Then you'll have to go through me first." Tidus yanked away from Harry and white light blinded Harry for a moment before Harry blocked Tidus' sudden strike and a burst of green clashed against Tidus' white aura flashing both colours across the room like two beings of energy warring. Harry completely ignored the others as he tried to beat Tidus down enough to force him out of his Final Overdrive without killing him but the Holy spell was just as powerful as the Ultima one and Tidus knew that Harry couldn't be killed so wasn't holding back. Harry finally managed to throw Tidus into the wall and in seconds had him pinned back with the edge of his sword against the Shifting Glacier and pressed up under his neck. White condensed over Tidus, pushing back at the green glow but Harry had the upper hand.

That was until Lulu stepped in to help. A bright flash of white that had nothing to do with Tidus burst from his body as Lulu risked casting a Holy spell on Tidus in the hopes he'd absorb the power and not die from it. Harry was sent hurtling back across the room as he dropped his sword and the Final Overdrive fell from him.

He landed and even as he forced his body to stand up Tidus attacked him mercilessly sending a Holy spell at him that Harry was hard pressed to protect himself from. He couldn't be killed by it but it stripped him of energy and he collapsed to his knees once more and looked up at Tidus who lost his white sheen as he walked towards him, seeing the weakness that had spread through Harry's body after being struck by two strong Holy spells. Anyone else on the planet would have been utterly destroyed.

Harry tried to form fire around him but even the most basic magic was out of his reach and he couldn't do anything against them as Kimahri and Auron hoisted him to his feet and held his wrists tightly.

"How long do you think that's going to last?" Harry asked.

"Long enough." Wakka told him tiredly. "And we can just beat you again."

"You didn't beat me." Harry glared angrily. "Tidus did and he can't do that again."

They looked at Tidus who was on his knees with Rikku at his side. He was pale and completely drained just like Harry. Harry met his eyes with one of utter defeat and Tidus had to shut his eyes against the pain that spread from Harry. "Then I think we should travel quickly and do this before you recover." Yuna announced and turned towards the door not realising that Harry couldn't recover as fast the closer they got to his core being. Still faster than a normal human but as the Myst filled his body his normal powers were weakened and Harry couldn't control the Myst.

Harry was forced to walk between Kimahri and Auron and didn't have much choice but to let them guide him. Rikku helped Tidus to walk while Yuna, Lulu and Wakka kept clear of everyone in case they ran into anything and had to fight but Harry already knew that there was nothing else further in.

The first room they came into was actually almost a pit full of bridges and lifts and their own bridge merely led into the centre of the pit that disappeared into the darkness below and up about a hundred feet to a ceiling. The lift was large enough for them all and magic burst into existence as soon as Rikku led Tidus onto it and let him lean against the side. Auron and Kimahri pushed Harry on next and forced him to sit on the floor against the wall and even though Harry wanted to fight he didn't have the energy yet and merely watched as the brakes released the now floating platform and it began to slowly sink down into the pit.

"What is this place?" Yuna gasped looking at the walls as they sunk past hundreds of tiers and large openings in the side. Some had locked doors over them but others were like shelves cut into the wall. "What are those?"

Harry craned his neck to look at the Challenger II tanks, probably one of the most armoured and powerful battle tanks in modern Earth. They sat in rows along with Russian T-62s. "They're tanks." Harry said bluntly. "The turrets fire a round that would probably destroy the Highwind in a single shot and can fire once every thirty seconds or so."

"What are they doing down here?" Rikku asked.

"Better down here where nobody can find them." Harry grumbled. "And I'd rather this stuff stayed down here if that's okay with you." Harry asked sarcastically. "Oh, you'll like this next part."

"What?" Yuna asked with a frown.

"Behind these doors." Harry jerked his head at the metal doors that stood across a whole row. "One behind each one are what are called Nuclear Fission weapons. Different sizes and shapes."

"What do they do?" Rikku asked.

"Split atoms." Harry grunted. "And release energy."

"So?" Wakka asked even though there was not much in that sentence that any of them understood. The study of that kind of science had died with Zanarkand and the older Yevon.

"You'll see." Harry turned his head away just as they moved past that section and further down into the darkness until the lift hit the bottom and Harry was forced to his feet and more or less hauled off of the lift by Auron. As soon as they were all clear the magic in the lift died and it went dark.

Lulu made the end of the Staff glow and they spotted an opening in the side wall and Wakka and Lulu led the way followed by Yuna, Rikku and Tidus who was now making an effort to walk by himself. Then Auron holding Harry up and finally Kimahri walking at the back in case Harry tried something.

The entered a long thin room and Harry braced himself for what he knew was about to happen. An orange light flashed along with a two tone alarm and the door began to shut behind them until they were locked in. "What's that?" Yuna asked him but Harry refused to answer. Lights erupted around the walls and with a flash the walls vanished to be replaced by a completely different scene. They were standing on a ridge with fields behind them and trees flowing in to a valley in front with mountains in the distance.

But it was the thing in the middle that really drew their attention and it was a moment before they could speak. "Is this like what Seymour used?"

"Exactly." Harry hissed.

"What the hell is that?" Rikku asked. "Is that... Sin?"

"Welcome Tidus to about half way through the Great Cataclysm." Harry spoke sarcastically. "You want to see what you're about to release then keep your eyes open."

"What?" Yuna turned to Tidus.

"The Great Cataclysm is an event in my Zanarkand's history where the world was destroyed by a massive force that overturned entire continents. "Harry said it was the Great Aeon."

"It is the creation." Harry spat. "See that?" They looked back at the thing that had drawn their attention. It had looked like a living mountain moving ever so slightly in the middle of the forest and as they watched it lifted its enormous head. It looked almost like Bahamut in proportions except its body was larger in relation to the rest of him. It still looked like the most deadly thing to ever be created though with a dark silver, almost black scaled hide and huge wings that opened and shut almost continuously as though stretching. It's head was shaped like Bahamut's and Harry knew that Christopher had based his shape off of the Great Aeon. It's tail stretched down along the trees and moved slowly, flattening the odd tree when it strayed too far and his clawed feet were so sharp that they dug into the ground further with each movement.

"Where is this?" Lulu asked.

"Welcome to Macalania Forest." Harry laughed. "You're about to see the largest fight between the most powerful version of Earth verses the greatest mistake ever to be made. That thing is why I'm punished like the other Fayths."

"You summoned that?" Yuna asked.

"Don't look down on me, Lady Yuna." Harry hissed her name with disdain. "You plan to do the same and so you're going to stand here and watch what is about to happen and I hope you see nightmares for the rest of your short life. And I didn't summon that." Harry paused and snapped his head around to Tidus. "I created it."

"You created the Great Aeon?" Tidus flinched.

"Look there!" Rikku pointed up at the sky to see two small flashing objects high up in the sky, leaving a trail behind them as they approached.

"You remember the Nuclear Fission weapons?" Harry asked. "The weapons that could destroy the world."

Before anyone else could speak the Great Aeon raised its head towards the incoming Intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear Missiles and a flash of light from it sprung out in all directions. The shield wasn't solid but it ebbed like a wind spreading through the trees just as the missiles thudded into it and exploded.

The group around Harry were flattened back by the shockwave that slammed into them, simulated by the artificial scene but even if it hadn't the sheer sight of two ICBMs exploding with white fury would have sent them all tumbling. They shielded their eyes and finally looked at the massive mushroom cloud that blotted out the sun and roiled the clouds leaving a red glow to light the area and at the base the burning mushroom cloud was burst apart by a wave of Myst and the Great Aeon appeared without a scratch on it.

"Impossible!" Rikku gasped.

"It's only just begun." Harry told them just as a roar erupted through the air and hundreds of streaks flew over head and explosions struck the Myst flooding away from the Great Aeon. Missiles. A few seconds later jet planes were streaking overhead, strafing the beast. "Would you like a running commentary?" Harry asked sardonically.

Auron grabbed his arm to shut him up just as the planes banked away from the Aeon and a wall of Myst slammed through them all, obliterating over a hundred pilots in a mere stroke that Harry knew wasn't even an effort for the Aeon. It approached them and the group turned at the sound of heavy metal grinding against heavy metal and they broke apart as a seventy-two tonne Challenger II tank rolled through them and as soon as it came into view of the Aeon, adjusted the angle of its turret and fired with a bark of thunder that threw them all back. More and more of the tanks, of all kinds appeared on the scene, bringing about the true sound of war. Suddenly there was too much chaos around them for Harry to even comment on.

Helicopters strafed the Aeon along with more Jets, shells flung from a hundred miles away from the world's greatest Warships, missiles from artillery closer in and thousands of tanks and vehicles throwing everything they could at him and with the second blast from the Aeon there was a lull as the Myst obliterated it all.

"Shut it off!" Yuna yelled at Harry but Harry ignored her even as Auron grabbed him tightly.

"This is what you want to summon!" Harry accused them. "I say enjoy it!"

The Aeon was now approaching their position with slow and deliberate steps through the glowing trees and the Myst twisted and upturned the ground between them as a wall of Myst slowly approached them and just as it was about to hit Rikku the scene changed.

The group sighed out in relief before looking at the place they were now standing. They were in the middle of a city unlike anything they'd ever witnessed before. Even Tidus was shocked by the height of the skyscrapers and they got dizzy just looking up at the rows and rows of windows. Then they realised that something was wrong. People were running away and they were clearly not from Spira. A tourist board near to them announced that they were in a city called New York City.

Before anyone could speak a shape blotted out the sun and the air thickened even as they looked up at the flying Great Aeon as it hovered above the city but it seemed peaceful compared to the last time. "What...?" Tidus made to ask but stopped when a person ran straight through his back and out of his front and collapsed to the ground seeping Pyreflies. They looked around and saw more and more of the thousands of people fleeing from the Great Aeon falling to the ground even as the air thickened with Myst that distorted the view of the buildings until they seemed to be twisting and bending.

The ground shook and they staggered as the whole scene tilted up and they realised that wherever they were was sinking down. "There!" Wakka pointed down the street at a solid blue and white mass rolling towards them. A wall of water that obliterated the buildings it struck and tossed metal contraptions in front of it and picked up people and smashed them into buildings.

The scene shifted again and this time Tidus cried out at the sight on the horizon. There was no sign of the Great Aeon, only a battlefield below them where people fought against machines which fought against the Aeons they were far more familiar with.

"Is this the war between Yevon and Zanarkand?" Lulu asked.

"It is a shame that the Zanarkand Summoners didn't heed my warning and watch what they did." Harry spoke simply just as a light flashed in the middle of the scene and a huge shape was summoned into existence before crashing to the ground in the centre of the battlefield easily large enough to have crushed half of both armies. Wings burst into existence and the wave of Myst destroyed the rest of the armies. Thousands dead in seconds before it roared and the ground below them rumbled and begun to crack apart. They could hear the fury in the Great Aeon's roar and by the time it leapt up into the air they were above a huge mountain range strewn with the destruction of the war and the wake of the Great Aeon.

The last scene was one that Harry had described to the others when they'd crossed the Moonflow and nobody made any comment as the Great Aeon hung above the city of Anarysis and it crumbled into the sea taking half a million people with it into the cold depths.

The scene faded and they found themselves finally free of the images, in the lit interior of the long room. Those that were still standing collapsed to the ground all except Auron who was still holding Harry upright tightly.

"This is your last chance to turn back, Yuna." Harry tried. "Do you really want a repeat of what you just saw? Do you think the world will survive?"

"It will." Yuna convinced herself as she stood up and turned to Harry. The others all raised, even Tidus. "This time it will have Sin to fight."

"You think you understand what it is?" Harry asked in surprise. "You're an idiot."

"You can't stop us." Yuna pointed out.

"I may be weakened, Yuna, but if you try to take it I will find a way to kill you." Harry warned but was ignored as the group began to walk away. Tidus moved towards Auron and Harry and motioned for Auron to let him take Harry who almost shrunk away from the man he loved. Even now he still loved Tidus.

Auron nodded and let Tidus support Harry but Auron and Kimahri still followed just in case as the group of eight walked along the long room which slowly began to spread out until they came to a dead end. The wall in front of them was in fact a door and Harry knew what lay on the other side. Something he hadn't seen in almost fifteen hundred years. The door had been untouched for that long but it still glowed with energy. It used the power of the Aeon locked behind it to make it impervious to magic.

"Can we break it down?" Wakka asked.

"Please try." Harry told him.

"Try a spell." Yuna told Lulu ignoring Harry.

Lulu raised the staff and tried to cast a fire spell to burn part of the door except that when the spell struck the door there was a flash of red fire and Lulu was sent hurtling back through Rikku and Wakka with flames licking at her clothing.

"I'd suggest something stronger." Harry put in with a laugh. It wasn't an amused one but merely a desperate need for this not to be happening. Still, he reassured himself, they couldn't find a way around that door.

"What about battering it down?" Rikku asked as she picked herself up and helped Lulu sort herself out. She looked at Harry who raised his eyebrows up at them.

"Be my guest." Harry told them.

"Harry. What will that do?" Tidus asked him gently.

"Why should I tell you that?" Harry asked.

"Because you don't really want to see us dead." Tidus told him.

"I'd rather see you dead, Tidus, then responsible for releasing what I created." Harry sighed but answered them none-the-less. "That door is tied into the structure of this mountain, it holds up its weak spots. It has to open in a certain sequence or..."

"The entire place comes down." Auron muttered.

"Like I said, be my guest." Harry told them.

"How are we supposed to get in without the key then?" Yuna asked the others. "Is there another way around? You must have put in a back door."

"Why would I want to insure a way into it?" Harry asked. "The idea was to keep idiots like you out."

"I've never seen a key like that before." Rikku muttered looking at the strange key hole. Harry couldn't see it from here but he knew what it looked like. Rikku continued talking, almost to herself. "It has to be a four pronged key with at least eighteen key pieces per prong."

Harry almost winced as she said it knowing only one of them that could possibly recall that particular key and Tidus tensed up, betraying that he had. "Please no, Tidus." Harry pleaded. "I can't..."

"Harry." Tidus sighed before turning to him. He put Harry's back to the wall and put his forehead against Harry's. "I know you think this is wrong but no matter the cost this time it will allow Spira to rebuild itself and not just like in a calm." His hand rested on Harry's chest, right over where the key hung. Harry should have thrown it in the ocean miles from here not brought it in with him. "You don't want to witness it and you don't have to and this time it won't be your fault." Tidus told him and moved his hand up to pull down the zip on the front of his vest. Harry had the energy to try to stop him but he could let Tidus have this if he could get up the energy to stop Yuna. All he needed was one spell and the few seconds it would gain him.

"I love you so much, Harry." Tidus whispered even though the others were all watching and trying to listen in. "You have no idea how much doing this hurts but if it means that in five hundred years you can live in peace then I'll do it." His hand took hold of the key and snapped the chain and then Tidus stood back and wiped his arm across his face. Ridding himself of the tears in his eyes.

Tidus left Harry alone and turned to walk to the door and slowly put the key in the slot and twisted. Harry felt his heart break all over again at the look of determination on Tidus' face as the ground shook and the door began to break into hundreds of moving pieces that slowly moved over one another even as they heard distant sounds of the entire mountain moving about to secure itself and finally the door split apart and the inside of the chamber became visible.

The door was about ten metres wide at the base but that was enough to see the cavern for what it was. It was another pit like the first but it was bright and filled with swirling patterns of Myst that was denser than anything they'd ever seen before and within the Myst they could sense a sheer power and a powerful sentience that throbbed to a slow heartbeat. It was awe inspiring but they all knew what it would cause when they released it and that gave them pause and that was all Harry needed.

He collected all the magic he had left and formed and released a single spell. The blast struck them all and seized them in place even as they turned to look at him in that moment's build up. Harry shoved himself off of the wall, ripped the Shifting Glacier from Tidus' sheath and in a single twist he sliced it straight into Yuna's chest. It slid into her flesh but his movement was arrested by another blade before his own could dig in deep enough to kill her and he was thrown back. His hand released the Shifting Glacier even as his body caught up to what had happened even as the same blade swung out and buried itself into his stomach sending him sprawling back onto the ground. Yojimbo stood between him and Yuna in case Harry had anything left in him and Harry gritted his teeth even as his spell failed and the others regained their ability to move even as Yuna fell backwards with the Shifting Glacier freezing her body slowly.

Tidus stood in shock even as the others rushed to Yuna's side and started trying to heal her and Harry could only hope that they'd be too late. Tidus knelt at Harry's side and Harry was surprised by the understanding there. "I know why you did it, Harry." Tidus told him placing his hands on Harry's stomach regardless of the fact that the loss of blood would only hinder Harry. "But this has to happen."

Harry turned to look at him but couldn't move with the amount of blood he was losing. Tidus leant down and kissed him before standing up and moving over to Yuna. "Yojimbo told me to put her in the chamber." Tidus announced even as he yanked the Shifting Glacier from her chest and ignored her scream of pain as he lifted her into his arms and with all the energy he had took her into the very heart of the power. "You have to go the last bit alone, Yuna. Can you do it?"

Harry just about saw Yuna nod her head and as soon as Tidus let her go she stumbled forwards into the heart of the chamber, along a small bridge that ended in the centre of all of that. The last thing that Harry saw before he fell into unconsciousness was the tendrils of Myst slamming into Yuna, flooding into her and reshaping her core to allow her to use her power to trigger Harry's transformation from Fayth to Aeon.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	13. Titans

Bound through the Ages

Chapter 13; Titans

**Highwind**

Harry woke silently and his mind automatically went to his surroundings. His eyes quickly met with two Al-bhed standing on the opposite side of the room. They moved towards him and Harry forced himself to stand up. He hadn't felt so weak in a long time but he forced his legs to take his weight. His chest burned with pain and even though somebody had healed him the ache of taking Yojimbo's blade through his chest and then losing probably much of his blood hurt beyond what he could possibly describe.

He looked around the room and recognised it as the one where he and Tidus had first made love and he sighed out. He couldn't hold his actions against Tidus and he did see the logic in their plan and he'd thought of it many times before and even considered it seriously after Simon had died but the risk was always there. What if the Great Aeon wiped out all sentient life on the planet? What if this time it left Earth or Spira as nothing more than a dead rock in space? What if he was the last being left to walk across the surface of a dead world for all eternity? He couldn't imagine a fate worse than that, not even having to live for two thousand years as everyone around him died. At least in that punishment there was the option for a brief attempt at happiness.

He knew he had to look atrocious and the flinch in the two Al-bhed guards eyes as they tried to offer their help to support himself let him know how much like death he looked. The problem was that the closer to the power that accompanied him as the Fayth the weaker his normal magic got and it was his magic that let his body heal after he 'died' like this.

"**We've been ordered to restrain you inside this room."** One of them said.

"**I have enough magic to kill you both."** Harry told them bluntly. **"Not much but enough to blow a hole in the side of this airship and send the whole thing plunging towards the surface."**

They flinched in shock at his bluntness and Harry pushed past them towards the door. He could feel some strength starting to return to him now that he'd woken up and hopefully the longer he was away from his core energy the stronger he'd feel. Unfortunately he knew he was already too late to stop this from happening. Yuna had blended with the power and if she even had a moment to think about releasing it before she died she could. And for some reason something seemed to be restraining him, making him not think about finding a way to kill her but even as he thought about what could cause that he remembered something that the Aeons had told him. His Aeon wanted to be released, it sensed something in the world, an opportunity that it wanted to make the most of and after being so close to it Harry was having trouble shaking off its thoughts and feelings. He almost felt like there was another consciousness within his mind.

"**I wish only to speak to them."** Harry told the two guards bluntly as he walked through the unlocked door and into the corridor. Somebody had put a fresh shirt on him, probably to cover the damage to the old one and he found himself pleased that Tidus, because only he would worry about Harry right now, had done that for him.

The two didn't say a word until Harry walked onto the Bridge and Cid, Auron, Yuna, Lulu, Wakka, Rikku, Kimahri and Tidus turned to look at him. As one they pulled out weapons, all except Cid and Tidus. The air around Yuna rippled and a series of different coloured runes appeared around her feet as all nine of her Aeons came up from the depths of her being, prepared to come into the world to hold Harry back.

"**We are sorry, he threatened to destroy the ship."** The same guard spoke to Cid.

"He does not have the energy." Yuna announced after a moment.

"They are wrong on that." Harry told her referring to whichever Aeon had just told her that. "The further we are from the energy of the Great Aeon the stronger I become."

"Why does its energy weaken you?" Lulu asked. "If you are its protector?"

"I am not its protector." Harry narrowed his eyes.

"He is its keeper." Tidus sighed. "Nobody hates that thing more than him."

"Nobody but I have witnessed its destruction in order to hate it." Harry pointed out.

"Valefor, Ifrit and Yojimbo have witnessed its destruction twice and Bahamut and Shiva once." Yuna pointed out. "They do not hate it as you do."

"They are idiots." Harry hissed harshly, angry at his friends far more than he could be angry at any of the living.

Yuna flinched after his words and when she finally looked at Harry her eyes were saddened. Harry refused to meet her stare and instead turned to Tidus. "What are you doing?" He asked the young man simply.

"What do you mean?" Tidus frowned having not expected something like that from him.

"What is your plan?" Harry asked simply. "Because unless you have something brilliant I don't see any way of protecting the world from the Great Aeon. It just won't work like that. Yuna can't control it and even if you get it to destroy Sin and Yu Yevon it'll still kill more people than Sin has in hundreds of years."

"We don't expect this to be bloodless." Tidus told him. "But at least this plan has an end to it. Waiting out the years bouncing between Calms isn't any way to live. You know that more than anyone else. It's lonely and without end and you know it."

"And if the Great Aeon destroys everything living on this planet and I'm forced to wander the surface alone for eternity?" Harry asked ruthlessly. "Will you still think what you did was right when you're in the next world looking down at me? Will you be able to forgive yourself for that?"

Tidus flinched but drew himself up. "You know why I'm doing this, Harry. It might be partly to save Spira from the endless loop but it's also so that you can live a life where you don't have to worry about the rest of Spira." Tidus sighed. "Maybe afterwards you can forgive me but even then I won't forgive myself. But I know that eventually we'll all be gone, I'll be gone, and when that happens I want you to be free of Sin, I want Spira to be free of Sin, so that I can look down on you with Simon and know that at least you have a chance to be happy. Even if the world is still rebuilding itself."

"We're not doing this for the Spira of now." Yuna pointed out. "If we were we'd have taken Yunalesca's offer and brought about a Calm. We're doing this for the future generations of Spira, for the possibility that in fifty years or maybe even a hundred the people of Spira can live in cities, build technology again without fear of Sin."

"If there are any people left in Spira." Harry pointed out.

"There will be." Yuna told him simply. "Even if there is risk of the Great Aeon destroying every human in Spira it's still a risk we have to take."

"And you make that decision for all of Spira do you?" Harry asked.

"Just as you made the decision for all of Spira two thousand years ago." Yuna told him and Harry staggered backwards as if punched. His eyes hardened dangerously. Obviously the Aeons had told her some stuff about his part in the creation of Sin though he doubted they'd have told her everything. They knew from the underwater mountain that Harry had had a part in creating it and that was why he had tasked himself with its two millennia of secrecy.

"I didn't know what I was creating." Harry hissed angrily. "For two thousand years I've been punished for a massacre I never wanted to create. There is a difference between us Yuna so do not dare compare us. I didn't know what I was going to cause, you do. That makes me an idiot but it makes you a monster and I tell you this now. I will survive this event because of my punishment, I will have to witness Spira attempt to stumble back onto its feet, but I promise you this, Yuna, every survivor will know your name because I will make sure they learn from their history. I won't cover up the Great Aeon this time. The whole of Spira will know of it and they will know of Summoner Yuna who released it onto them."

"Perhaps I'll die." Yuna nodded. "And perhaps you will get your way and I'll be branded a monster for this but I do it not for fame but for the survival of Spira and even if in a thousand years people still remember me as a monster at least they'll be alive to think on it." Harry grunted since he could accept that kind of sacrifice even if he didn't like what she planned to do.

"Why do you not try to stop her with action?" Cid asked. "It was you who stabbed her through the chest."

"I can't kill her now." Harry grunted. "Just like I couldn't kill the summoners of Zanarkand after they blended with the Great Aeon. She is protected by the Myst that flows from the beast."

"You control Myst and so does it." Lulu spoke up. "Can you use that to try to control it? Perhaps with Tidus and you working together?"

"I do not control Myst and neither does Tidus." Harry said bluntly. "We channel it through the nature of what we are. I because of my hand in creating the beast and him through his... existence."

"Because I'm essentially an Aeon created by the summoners." Tidus said bluntly before looking at Harry. "I don't care."

"The Great Aeon controls the very essence of Myst. I can't compete against that to control it and even if I could I will not be able to help you once you summon that creature." Harry told them bluntly.

"What?" Yuna frowned. "Why?"

Harry just sighed and shook his head. "I could not convince you to see reason, I could not force you to see reason and I cannot implore to your common sense so I will not be able to stop you from doing this." Harry walked past them to the front windows and shut his eyes feeling tears in them because he knew that in only a short amount of time he'd be witnessing and wanting the destruction of everything around him. "Just do it if you must and save as many people as you can and stay as far away as you can but remember that if you anger the Great Aeon it will catch up to you and nothing you do and nowhere you go will protect you from it."

"Is there nowhere in Spira that it won't destroy?" Yuna asked.

"There is only one place untouched by the last calamity. The one that destroyed Zanarkand." Harry prompted.

"Macalania woods." Tidus nodded. "We've already sent word for the people in Bevelle and the surrounding area to head to the forest."

"It might protect you." Harry corrected before looking directly at Tidus. "Stay safe. Promise me that."

Tidus nodded. "You won't get rid of me that easy. I'll be here afterwards to take the blame for this."

"As will I." Yuna told him. "I understand that."

"You will regret that." Harry told them both.

"Sin!" Brother, one of Cid's sons, called from the pilot's seat and Harry looked up to see the floating beast, Sin, hovering over the water just east of the Gagazet Mountains. A shudder went up Harry's spine as he saw the creature in its full form for the first time in several long decades. The others rushed to the windows and Harry jumped slightly when Tidus' arms circled around his waist and tightened around him.

"The Great Aeon will destroy Sin, it'll destroy Yu Yevon permanently and it'll free the Fayths." Harry told him quietly. "I know all of this. I feel it in my heart."

"How will it know Sin?" Tidus asked with his head beside Harry's.

"It will." Harry assured him. "I can promise you that. What I can't tell you is what it will do after Sin, Yu Yevon and the Fayths are destroyed or how long it will stay before it fades once more. At least for another thousand years."

"No one will have to summon it again." Tidus told him.

"It's funny. I said the same thing after the Great Calamity, and again after Spira was destroyed in Zanarkand's time." Harry shook his head. "Perhaps the Great Aeon is just another part of the Spiral that is Spira."

"Then at least we know the world will survive." Tidus told him.

"It is time to prepare." Auron announced, speaking for the first time since Harry had come into the room.

"Let's bring it!" Cid shouted with a grin on his face.

Harry shuddered again but this time he knew that Tidus had felt it against his own body.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The Highwind carved through the clouds as it flew closer and closer to the large reddish-grey monster that was Sin. A mere shell carved out of the soul and energy of the Final Summoning in order to protect Yu Yevon from harm and to ensure his rebirth each time Sin was destroyed. The shell was bound to Yu Yevon's will and it was that which made Harry hate Yu Yevon. Those that he'd taken to Zanarkand over the years to become the next Sin had been forced to destroy the world that they had sacrificed their lives to save.

As Harry stood behind the others on the wind strewn upper deck of the airship he couldn't help but think that maybe it was time for it to end like this. Then he shook his head and forced his wild thoughts away, that was the dangerous personality that came with being so close to someone that was bonded to his core energies and after being inside the very chamber he hadn't visited in centuries. Harry's energy was flooding back to him as they approached Sin but it wasn't his normal energy, it was the energy of Myst that filled him in anticipation of his transformation. Yuna's mind was fixed firmly on the slaughter she was about to cause.

The others were standing around Yuna with Tidus standing right at her shoulder with Rikku on her other side. Wakka and Lulu stood behind them and to the side while Auron and Kimahri stood behind Yuna but most importantly they stood between Harry and her even though Harry was almost fifteen feet away. Harry lifted a radio to his mouth as they started to slow down. He'd grabbed it on the way up.

"Cid, you're going to have to get out of here pretty sharpish." Harry warned.

"_We figured that one out."_ Cid told him. _"How about you tell me when?"_

"You'll know." Harry told him rather than saying that he wouldn't be around to tell him. Cid could see down over the deck anyway, it wouldn't be long before he knew what was happening.

"It's time, Yuna." Auron announced even as Sin started to turn its massive head towards them and Harry started to feel a rising anger within him when he saw the creatures eyes turn to look at them. Part of him wanted to fight Sin for the first time in direct combat but that was the part of him effected by his core powers and he pushed it away viciously.

He saw Yuna nod and turn to look at Harry and gasp at the intense look of emotion in Harry's eyes. She turned away and raised her arms above her head. There weren't many summoners that could control his power enough within their bodies to survive long enough to use it and if she survived what was to come she'd struggle with it for the rest of her life.

Harry felt the power first since it was centred on him. Yuna was merely a key to trigger the transformation but as soon as she started to release the power Harry was connected irrevocably with his core energy in just the same way that a normal Fayth was summoned. Instead of forming his energy out of the summoner though it was created out of himself. The Fayth.

The air stilled and the sound of the Airship beneath them seemed to fade away. It was still there but as if at a distance. The wind died, unable to cut through the Myst forming around them and a dull throb pained their ears. The others automatically moved away from Yuna as she was surrounded by twirling spires of Myst almost like a normal Summoning Circle. Harry felt power explode from him reaching out like a wave but it wasn't harmful yet and more like a blast of hot air than anything else but it drew their attention. Everyone, even Yuna felt the wave hit them from behind and turned in time to see the waves of Myst that were surrounding the entire _Highwind_ collapsed back into Harry like the reverse of an explosion.

"What?" Yuna gasped though her eyes still betrayed that she was trapped within the summoning. The air began to spin around Harry, drawing in Myst out of seemingly nowhere, channelling it through him and emitting it back into the nexus around him.

"He's the Fayth!" Auron yelled in shock over the increasing throbbing of power. Even as he said it Harry took a step forwards towards them and the Myst burst out from him sending a wave out. It struck them all and sent them onto their backs but didn't harm them. It struck the ship behind him and the metal under their feet trembled as if in pain.

"Now you learn the truth." Harry spoke sadly even as he felt more powerful within him than he'd felt in a thousand years.

"He didn't create it." Yuna gasped. "He _is_ the Great Aeon."

"That is why you are the Destroyer." Wakka frowned. Harry didn't care at this point and merely began walking towards them, seeming to grow as the Myst spiralled around him.

He walked through them as they backed away but paused as he came face to face with Tidus who was crying steadily and shaking in shock and perhaps a bit of fear. "Now you see." Harry said as if he hadn't said the almost exact same thing only five seconds earlier.

"No..." Tidus gasped. "I didn't know."

"You were willing to make the Great Aeon kill thousands or even millions." Harry shook his head. "What difference does it make now that you know that it is I that you are forcing to kill so many against my will? I have killed billions, what is one million more."

"Harry... no..." Tidus choked.

"We are more alike it seems than you realised." Harry walked past him and even though Tidus reached out to grab his arm Harry was more than just flesh and blood now and Tidus' hand moved straight through his arm. "Leave this place or you will all die." He told them just as he felt it approaching. The power was reaching the levels needed to summon him into existence. Harry took five quick steps and launched himself off the edge of the deck of the airship and out over a thousand feet of open air. He'd barely cleared the ship when his sight was utterly blinded by a bright flash of white light and the world around him vanished.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The group was thrown back as Harry vanished below the edge of the deck and a bright light burst into existence. The scrambled up but their world span as the airship was shoved backwards and around. They struggled but managed to flee the deck and get inside and as fast as they could ran up to the bridge. Tidus slammed into the railing rather than slow himself down and ignored Cid shouting out orders as his eyes locked with the bright writhing mass of Myst hanging in the air.

It was one of those sights that burned itself into your mind for the rest of your life. The ocean below them, the mountains of Gagazet lining the coast with Sin hanging between them and finally the bright mass of Myst growing quickly between them all. Sin was an incredible and horrifying sight on its own, let along the build up of power which even though they knew Harry was in the middle didn't seem to be effected by gravity. Perhaps it was more beautiful than scary for most people but Tidus, Yuna, Rikku, Lulu, Wakka, Kimahri and Auron had all seen what the Great Aeon had done in the past and they knew what this bright sphere of Myst was going to become.

All at once Sin turned, drew back its head and roared, its roar trembling the air sending a blast wave across the space between them. It struck the Myst and sent a shudder through it yet other than that it was unaffected. Sin dropped down, clinging to the top of a mountain and lowered its head in the way of its normal laborious movements. The movements of a creature that was curious about something but that didn't really fear any harm from it.

All of a sudden Brother panicked and they felt the airship slew wildly off course. **"We're being pulled off course!"**

"**Where too!"** Cid called.

"**Straight into that!" **Brother called.

Tidus firmly gripped the railing in front of him and even though he couldn't pull his eyes away from the sight before him he knew Yuna was on his right and Rikku on his left. The rest of their friends were likewise enthralled with the event outside but the rest of the bridge was chaos as people panicked.

Even as they thought they were about to be sucked in the sphere of Myst it shrunk in on itself almost vanishing completely before bursting outwards and even before they spotted the shockwave it stuck the ship and slew it off course. Brother righted it quickly and the first thing they saw as the ship came back onto course was the huge waves being pushed across the ocean and then finally the debris from the mountains rolling down in avalanches of rock and snow and then finally they came back onto course and saw the behemoth that was the Great Aeon. The most powerful creation in the world. It was exactly as they had seen it in the machine in the underwater mountain with its large body, tail, feet, armoured hide, powerful jaws and teeth and massive wings that moved idly even though the creature hung over the water.

"By Yevon..." Wakka gasped out from somewhere to Tidus' left but Tidus didn't bother to find him, staring at what he now knew was Harry.

"The water!" Rikku suddenly gasped and pointed down and Tidus forced himself to look away from the silvery black creature and down at the dark blue water and gasped. It was roiling as if a drain had been pulled but instead of the whirlpool heading down it was as if the water was being sucked up towards the Great Aeon.

All at once the Aeon threw down its wings and craned its neck up into the air and opened its jaws in what was obviously a roar except nothing came out except for a shockwave unlike anything they had witnessed on Spira except for in that machine when they'd witness the ancient world's fission weapons. The blast hit the water first and it flexed back down, pushing almost clear to the seabed before being thrown outwards so fast it obscured their vision even as the blast struck the _Highwind_. Tidus was thrown, along with everyone else, across the bridge and the airship spiralled out of control and when Tidus managed to first look up it was to see the front windows obscured completely by the ocean as the ship spun around.

Brother, one of the only ones of them to be strapped in, recovered their deathly descent and when Tidus managed to reach the railing again, uncaring about anyone else, he saw that they were now higher that the Aeon and Sin, looking down at them both and the mountains. Sin had been thus far rather motionless but it seemed to have taken that blast as a threat and it roared audibly even from where they were.

"Please, Harry..." Tidus gasped to himself but he didn't really know what he was begging for. Perhaps for the Aeon to kill Sin and Yu Yevon and make this all worthwhile or just for Harry to be okay after this. The Great Aeon just seemed so powerful and even from where he stood he could feel it's power against his skin and it took his breath away. Harry had always awed him and scared him, even after he'd fallen in love with him. Firstly because of his immortality and then because of his thoughts over what Harry could have done to be punished so badly. He'd told Tidus that his deeds were worse than any of the others and Tidus had agreed with that after seeing what Harry had created, even unintentionally. But now that he knew the full truth, that Harry _was_ the Great Aeon and had, even against his will, killed so many billions he just couldn't cope with it all. He felt a shudder run through his entire body.

"Tidus..." The word was like a whisper on the wind but it seemed to reach every part of the bridge. Tidus spun around and staggered backwards into the railing rather painfully at the sight in front of him. Rikku screamed and everyone scattered from the centre of the bridge where, amongst the chaos, Simon's ghostly form had appeared. "Tidus..." He said again.

"Simon!" Tidus gasped and tried to move towards him but his legs were just too shaky and weak. "I didn't..."

"It was Harry's decision not to tell you the truth right away." Simon told him, his voice drifting in and out as he spoke. "I am not here to recriminate you but to beg you to leave this place."

"I can't leave him." Tidus gasped in horror at the idea. It was one thing that hadn't even crossed his mind. Fleeing right now felt too wrong to him. It felt like another betrayal.

"Harry is the Fayth of the greatest creation in Earth and Spiran history and for the last few years he has felt such a desire for his core to be released. _It_ was so angry at the world the first time and angry at Yevon and the Summoners of Zanarkand the second time that it destroyed the world. This time it wanted to be free but it still feels the anger at the world that forced this on Harry once more. It is not unlike Harry in its emotions but it simply does not want to control its anger like Harry does." Simon told him simply as everyone stared at the ghost in shock. "The being you see there is Harry true but just as Harry was willing to kill Yuna to prevent his release he will now kill you all merely for the hand you planned in a lot of his pain in these recent months."

"Months?" Tidus gasped.

"I can feel what angers him the most now." Simon told him and closed his eyes for a moment. "He has given up his only chance to be freed from his punishment in order to release the other Fayths and so that you would not be left alone to fight this battle. That is what hurts him the most and for the being you see there it means he wants to destroy the world that has placed him in that situation. Even you."

"But he doesn't want to be the only one alive at the end." Tidus sobbed.

"No, Harry does not." Simon shook his head with a sigh. "But is it his loneliness which causes him the most pain or watching the people of Spira destroying themselves?"

"But how do we stop it?" Tidus asked. "Yuna can't control it."

"Harry is drawn to you, he always has been." Simon sighed. "At least since you were created in the Dream World. He felt your existence and was drawn into the world to watch you grow up. Sin didn't send you to Yuna, he sent you to Harry."

"Because he knew what Harry was." Tidus said with certainty. "He wanted to be destroyed and he knew what Harry was."

"Almost, Sin knew the power that Harry could lead you to." Simon nodded. "But there is more. Your plan is recent but this plan was put into place by the Fayths long before the Zanarkand Summoners put it into action. From before your father and mother were created. Sin knew that Harry was linked to you. Because you are both the same, you are both forms of an Aeon and the summoners created you as a tool to oppose the Great Aeon."

"Oppose it?" Tidus gasped before looking out of the window at the two behemoth beings lingering at a distance, neither caring right then to move against each other. "It's impossible."

"Except for the power that the Fayth of your Zanarkand placed inside of you." Simon told him. "The power that Harry could sense in you but did not understand. If you wield it against the Great Aeon it might turn away from its destruction."

"To destroy us." Wakka scoffed making Simon turn to look at him with a cold expression.

"Harry is this world's greatest victim." Simon said simply. "He has endured a punishment that none of you could ever imagine. It might not seem so bad to any of you to be immortalised in a world destroying itself but Harry knows that he was the first person to pull the trigger. He was the key that unlocked all of the destruction, be it the War of the Dark, The Yevon-Zanarkand war or Sin. It is all because of him. The Great Aeon will end it unless you find a way to stop him, Tidus. Our hope rests with you."

With those words Simon simply faded from view and a small shiver ran down Tidus' back. The group turned to look through the front window only to stumble and gasp as they found themselves faced, up close, with the Great Aeon. It had moved on silent wings in the last half of that conversation and its massive head towered over them at a distance of merely two hundred metres. It's jaws opened and a throbbing growl from its throat shook the ship.

"**Get us out of here, Brother!"** Rikku yelled loudly and even as she yelled it Brother leapt for his controls again and the ship slowly began to move but it was going to be too slow and the Great Aeon's jaws began closing on them. Tidus gripped the railing and almost shut his eyes to their imminent demise except at the last moment the world jerked as a wave of power struck the _Highwind_ sending it flying away from the Great Aeon even as the wave of power struck the side of the creature which fell sideways although it recovered within seconds even as the foreign energy rippled around it before being shoved away with a halo of Myst.

"What happened?" Wakka asked.

"There!" Auron pointed past the huge form of the Great Aeon at where Sin was flying off to the side, moving fast with a bubble of magic around it. The Great Aeon had obviously decided to ignore Sin which it didn't know at the moment to focus on the ones that had caused his release even though it had wanted it to happen. Sin had struck and that had saved them.

Brother manoeuvred the ship away as Tidus watched through the front windows as the air around the Great Aeon rippled as it turned to face Sin. They were about the same size except for the huge, almost insubstantial, wings of Myst that lazily flapped above the Great Aeon. It paused as it turned fully onto Sin and Sin roared, opening it's jaws wide sending a shockwave at the Great Aeon as it had with the sphere of Myst, challenging it.

"The Great Aeon is preparing to attack!" Rikku yelled and Tidus saw it too, the Myst was spiralling around it and growing, becoming bright enough to obscure the Great Aeon from view and then with barely any warning the whole scene seemed to freeze as the Myst froze in place in front of the jaws of the Great Aeon. The beast opened its jaws as if to roar and again no sound escaped it but the Myst struck out like a writhing beam. Sin reacted, bringing up the shield that had proved too great for the Al-Bhed's weapon on the Djose Highroad and the Myst struck it turning it from its calm orange colour to a harsh red as it rippled under the onslaught. The Myst roiled across the surface of the shield, crushing it in and rolling around it before it deflected off the shield entirely and struck the mountains along the coast. They all flinched as the Myst soaked into four mountains and they watched the four mountains shatter, sending boulders and debris in every direction seconds before the sound hit them.

"Look at Sin!" Yuna gasped and Tidus swallowed nervously. Sin didn't look hurt but the way it was hovering belied a weakness in it. "It's weak!" Yuna gasped.

"That's good right?" Wakka asked.

"Except if we couldn't defeat Sin by ourselves how do we defeat something that can defeat Sin so easily?" Lulu pointed out.

Sin drew itself up and roared angrily and with a bright flash red lances of power flew from it and at the Great Aeon. One scraped down the Aeon's side before it could react but didn't seem to do that much damage. The second one would have hit it in the head but the wings folded down over its front and the red beam struck it and they could almost imagine the heat forming there against the wings of Myst. The wings opened violently and the beam deflected in three directions, carving deep trenches as they shot across the surface of the water, leaving the water to crash in behind them and leaving long gouges through the continent for miles in different directions that began to fill with sea water.

Sin fired another blast of red light at the Great Aeon but it was met this time with a blast of Myst just like the first time and the earth shattering explosion as the two met made the airship shudder but they were most surprised when the Great Aeon burst forwards, faster than even the airship could fly and burst through the wake of the explosion and crashed into Sin gouging deep into its hide with four sets of claws and sending the two huge behemoths down into the water. The water wasn't that deep and Sin was still visible where the Aeon held it down but they knew that Sin wasn't harmed by being underwater. Myst flooded the area and the water began to roil, raising up towards the Great Aeon and slowly a circle of water began to rise around them.

The Myst thickened and they began to see it flowing towards the Great Aeon, channelling into it and then down through the back of Sin which struggled violently. It's shield formed and burned at the Great Aeon but the flow of Myst between them cut through the shield and down into Sin's back, carving down into it but not effecting it at the same time. Myst hit the airship and they could hear the vibrations of it against their hull even as Brother pulled back away from the outer edge of thickening Myst. The sight was incredible.

"What's it doing?" Yuna asked to anyone in general but nobody deemed to answer her, if anyone even knew. Whatever it was doing it was hurting Sin. The scene seemed to freeze in that single act with only the moving Myst to show that time hadn't actually stopped. Sin was trapped half in the water with the Great Aeon on its back. The great wings of the Great Aeon haloed the scene as Myst spiralled down through the clouds turning them a violent grey colour before the Myst past around the Great Aeon and into Sin's back.

Then all of a sudden the world seemed to shudder and Sin shattered. Or at least that was the closest description that Tidus could think of. One minute the fight seemed to have stalled and then the next Sin just exploded outwards and scattered in all directions roiling with thick Myst. Sin was utterly destroyed. Whatever the Great Aeon had been doing it had destroyed Sin and since Tidus knew that Yu Yevon used Sin's shell to protect himself perhaps that was what the Great Aeon had been doing, getting inside to get at the person that had created Sin in the first place.

"It's dead." Yuna gasped out in relief but Tidus didn't react to her statement and merely watched as the Great Aeon sunk towards the surface of the violent ocean surface and slipped into it. He watched as it moved out to deeper water and then slipped under the surface becoming nothing more than a shadow in the stormy water.

"It's almost as if it was worth it." Lulu spoke up quietly in the sudden silence.

"Try saying that after it starts on the rest of the world." Tidus swallowed thickly but he knew that they had to weather this and perhaps Simon was right, perhaps there was a way they could fight this thing.

"Where is it heading?" Auron asked though by the tone of his voice he already knew the answer to that one.

Cid's answer was simple and flat, without emotion. "Bevelle."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter


	14. Immortal

Bound Through the Ages

A/N; Well I hope you all enjoy the final chapter of this story. It's been two years and ten months since I started this story and I hope you all enjoyed reading it. I think it ends on a nice note and it's been planned to end exactly like this since its original conception. I have no real intention of writing a sequel to this story so I hope you are happy with this.

**Please enjoy the final chapter!**

Chapter 14; Immortal

_**Extract out of the acclaimed 'The tides of destruction; An account of the Great Aeon.'**_

'_In the hour of dusk, even as the citizens of Bevelle fled at the bequest of the Summoner Yuna and her Guardians, the first strike against Spira fell upon the capital city of Yevon. An enemy ages older than the creation of Sin swept slowly through the shallows of the ocean. Forgotten in the time since Zanarkand's destruction to all but it's Immortal Keeper, the living Fayth, punished through eternity for its creation. It rose steady above the greatest city in Spira and wrote out its place in our history. None remaining in Bevelle survived it's onslaught. It was awesome and deadly. Sin could not compare. Sin had already faced it and been destroyed. Spira was paying its dues for being free of Sin for eternity._

_Many say the price was too high.'_

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Four hours after Sin's death – Above Macalania Forest**

Tidus knelt on the deck of the Highwind, safe far above the ground, yet he trembled for what he and the others had done. They had known that there would be a price for releasing the Great Aeon and he only hoped that in the coming centuries Spira could finally recover once and for all. People had to fight for their freedom and for their lives and living under Sin was not a life. Even Harry had agreed with them on that. He'd known that Harry would be in pain after the Great Aeon's release but he and the others had never imagined that Harry had _been_ the Great Aeon.

All Tidus had thought about for the last four hours was whether that would have changed his mind. He tried not to think about it and try to come up with a way to stop the Aeon like Simon had told him to and he knew the others were inside the bridge discussing plans and options but he couldn't help them when he couldn't get Harry's anguish out of his mind.

One other person was in a similar position to him, kneeling next to him with her own tears on her face. Yuna hadn't said a word to anyone since they realised that Bevelle was the first target and now, before them, they knew the time was up. By unspoken agreement the two had decided that if they were going to be the cause of all of this then they were going to force themselves to witness it themselves.

They'd warned Bevelle four hours ago and followed the Great Aeon as it slipped underwater towards the Yevon capital and the civilians, for the most part, had fled yet so many were standing true to the fact that Yevon would protect them as Yevon had delivered them from Sin. They understood Sin was dead but they saw the Great Aeon as some kind of deliverer to stand tall before and not run from. They didn't understand and when Tidus had wanted to go down there to explain it forcibly Rikku and Kimahri had restrained him.

The Warrior Monks and Crusaders within Bevelle had armed every defence they had and the many bells of the city, which had last run for Yuna's wedding, now tolled out a warning as beyond the city a great wall of water rose up in the shallows before flowing down against the high walls of the city as the Great Aeon emerged. It's dark silver hide glowing slightly red as the sun behind them struck it. It rose above the city and its wings opened high above it.

Then it started. A barrage of shots struck out at the Aeon. Tidus couldn't bear to think of it as Harry. All of the defences turned on it yet their shots bounced off of the hard hide like smoke. Yuna gasped beside him and Tidus tore his eyes away from Bevelle long enough to look at her. A small boy was standing beside her with sad eyes. "Christopher." Tidus gasped.

"Goodbye, Tidus." Christopher told him. "Tell Harry that I love him."

"Christopher?" Tidus frowned as the image faded and Yuna shot him a strained look before they turned back to the sound of a roar that rose up over the sounds of the defenders. A large, dark blue and red, Aeon rose up from the top of one of the largest towers, the temple where Christopher's Fayth resided. Tidus knew it was possibly the largest of the Aeons yet it was barely larger than the Great Aeon's jaws.

Yuna gasped before standing and throwing out her arms and Bahamut roared even as energy burst from Yuna and the clouds swirled and a shape fell down from the sky. Wings unfurled and Bahamut leapt up to join Valefor in the air. They attacked within the barrage of defensive guns but throughout all of this the Great Aeon had merely drawn steadily closer to the city although the emergence of the two Aeons drew it's head up to watch them. They attacked, a lance of red light and a beam of bright white struck out and slammed into the air a hundred feet from the Great Aeon. The air throbbed as Myst drained the attacks before the strikes ricocheted away and sliced deeply through the city below them, carving two lines through the buildings, walls and towers. Eight buildings crumbled to the attack.

"They don't stand a chance!" Wakka gasped behind them but Tidus didn't turn to look at them. He hadn't even noticed when they'd arrived.

The Great Aeon turned away from the two Aeons, ignoring them as the air began to shift and distort and as the group on the airship watched the towers on the far side of the city warped to their eyes and the defensive guns that the Warrior Monks had been using on the far side of the city went silent. Screams rose from within the city and Tidus sagged. The Great Aeon wasn't even going to enter the city, it didn't need to.

"What's it doing?" Rikku asked.

"The scene that Harry showed us." Lulu sounded distraught and Tidus wasn't surprised. "Of a great city of metal and glass. The Great Aeon just hung above it."

"And the people there..." Wakka caught himself before he could finish but the picture flashed through them all. Bodies distorting within the floods of Myst, dying even as their world twisted and faded around them.

The centre of the city was now distorted from their view, the tallest towers curving over even though they all knew it was just the light bending. The guns were all silent now and they knew the Warrior Monks, and anyone else left in the city, were all already dead. Tidus noticed it first and straightened up. The Myst had frozen in position like a dome around the city and it began to thicken right above the top. Bahamut and Valefor hung above the scene, unable to do anything but they'd obviously seen what was happening and probably knew what it meant. Tidus didn't have a clue though.

"No!" Yuna cried out a second before it happened. She clutched her head as the Myst struck inwards through the top of the dome and down into the tower that housed Bahamut's Fayth. It flooded into the tower and the Myst around the city faded just as the tower disintegrated into itself. It hit another tower on its way down, pulling that one down across the northern part of the city but Tidus knew there wasn't anyone alive to be caught under it.

Above the city Bahamut roared and flashed with a bright white light before vanishing. Valefor cried out before flying straight up into the sky and dismissing herself. Yuna sagged and turned to look at Tidus. "He's gone." She cried.

"Who's gone?" Lulu asked even though Tidus already knew the answer.

"Bahamut." Yuna hung her head.

"The Great Aeon destroyed Bahamut's crystal?" Rikku asked and Tidus nodded.

"At least it's something Harry wanted." He hung his own head unable to look at the Great Aeon as it sunk down away from the city again. "Christopher was like his son."

Yuna touched his arm but Tidus couldn't find it in himself to respond. He couldn't say to them all that Christopher was part of a group who's dreaming was allowing him to exist. Only Harry knew that. If Harry turned to the Zanarkand Summoners just north of them and destroyed them as well then Tidus would cease to exist.

Bevelle still stood but the silence of the normally bustling city throbbed against their ears in the unnatural stillness of the air around them. Already Sin had killed almost six hundred but at least they'd saved the eighteen thousand that had fled into Macalania Woods and across the Thunder plains to Guadosalam.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next day – Airship over Luca**

"We need a plan." Cid announced as he eyed the hologram that showed them the main continent of Spira. Over the last night the Great Aeon had destroyed the Remiem Temple and the Macalania Temple and although the Remiem Temple hadn't cost any lives the Macalania Temple had been strewn about with the dead. Refugees from Bevelle had fled there and nobody had even seen the Great Aeon approach. It had come up from underneath and the temple had burst into flames.

The only reason they knew that Remiem Temple had been hit was because Yuna had told them that the Delta Sisters were gone. And Yuna had been the one to tell them to go to Macalania Temple to find the ruins after Zara, or Shiva, had vanished as well. It became clear that the Great Aeon was targeting the Fayths that it came across.

"Well we know it's targeting Temples." Wakka pointed out. "The next one would be Djose so maybe we should head there?"

"And do what?" Rikku asked. "Throw missiles at it? The people back then used massive bombs and it barely irritated that thing!"

Tidus felt a bubble of anger as Rikku called the Great Aeon a thing but in the end he just looked at the hologram of the floating Aeon that was working its way down the western coast of the continent. It had already destroyed two small towns merely because they were in its path. One was a ghost town and the other had been swallowed up completely by a massive rise in the water.

"That ghost told Tidus that he could stop it." Lulu commented.

"He doesn't know how." Yuna sighed and Tidus knew she'd glanced at his back in concern. "Tidus can't just go there and hope for the best or the Great Aeon might just kill him too."

"The Great Aeon is targeting what angered Harry." Auron spoke up with a small sigh. "The Fayths for aiding in his release and he'll turn against us because we were the ones to actually release him."

Tidus walked away from them all towards the back of Brother's piloting chair and rested his hands on the back. "Harry, I hope you're also freeing them." He muttered to himself. "But his mind was being made up even as he stared out at the Mi'ihen Highroad. "If you're going to Djose then you'll see me there. I won't keep running from you, Harry. Not after I did this to you."

"Tidus?" Brother asked in concern although he didn't understand what Tidus had said.

"**Land, Brother."** Harry told him in stunted Al'bhed. **"I'm getting off here."**

Brother did as he was told and Tidus walked purposely back through the control room as Cid demanded an explanation from Brother who only told him what Tidus had said. Cid then demanded to know what he was thinking which clued in the others but Tidus was already moving into the corridor. If Brother didn't land then Tidus was planning on jumping off. They were over water after all.

The Airship hovered just above the entrance to Djose Temple by the time Tidus got to the hatch and he was surprised but it was obvious somebody had realised what he was planning. He stepped out on the dusty rock and Rikku stepped out behind him. He spun to face her. "Not a chance, Rikku!" He yelled over the sound of the Airship's engines.

"He's my friend too!" Rikku told him.

"I'm about to get myself killed!" Tidus argued.

"You'd better have a better plan than that." Yuna demanded appearing in the hatchway.

"Get away from here, Yuna!" Tidus demanded and shoved Rikku towards the hatch.

"I've betrayed him too, Tidus." Yuna pointed out though she didn't actually step out of the hatchway.

"Nobody betrayed him like I did, Yuna." Tidus shook his head. "He deserves to have me face him rather than just continually running away from him. "This isn't my world but I helped make the decision to destroy part of it. I still think what we've done had to be done but if by standing here I can stop this then I have to try even if it kills me. You've made your sacrifice and so has Harry. Now it's my turn."

"Go, Lady Yuna." A whispery voice spoke up from Tidus' shoulder and Tidus leapt around to find Simon standing there and he wasn't alone. Christopher was leaning under his arm and on his other side was Zara. "Tidus will not be alone."

"Rikku..." Yuna called and the girl turned to look at Tidus before leaping forward to hug him tightly. She kissed his cheek and backed away and up into the hatch. Both girls were crying and Tidus knew the chances of seeing them again were slim.

"We've got to go!" Cid's voice called from the speakers on the airship's hull. "It's nearly here!"

"Go, pops!" Rikku spoke into the intercom and the hatch began to close on his first friend in this world and his Summoner. The airship lurched and rapidly climbed up into the air and Tidus swallowed thickly and turned to Simon.

"You don't have to stay and watch this, Simon." Tidus told him with tears in his eyes. "I did this and now I'll let Harry have his revenge."

Simon stepped closer and laid a hand on Tidus' shoulder and leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead even though Tidus couldn't feel either of them. "They have given me the chance to stand beside you now and the other Fayth are supporting Zara and Christopher for the same reason. Harry loves you and he doesn't want revenge on you. He wants hope."

"I can't give him hope, Simon." Tidus turned away and walked towards the Mushroom Rock Road because he knew through every fibre of his being that it was where the Great Aeon would land before attacking Djose Temple.

He stopped on the edge of the platform where the Crusader and Al'bhed mission had been commanded from and merely waited. "Christopher?" Tidus asked the small ghost of a boy. "If I die what happens to me?"

"You're a dream, Tidus." Christopher smiled at him sadly. "Dreams never die."

"But I can cease to exist." Tidus argued.

"And if Harry destroys you here you will cease to exist. They could dream up an exact copy of you to replace you but you would be dream alone. It took us the life times of three generations to empower your mother, father and you." Christopher told him gently. "If they create a copy it will be nothing but a shell, a dream within their minds."

"So I'll just stop?" Tidus asked. "And where does a dream go when it ends?"

"You mother came to be with me." Simon told him. "I imagine you will do the same."

"I don't expect Harry will want to visit me in Guadosalam." Tidus muttered but then gritted his teeth. Harry shouldn't have to see him again. Harry would have been better off not knowing him at all.

Tidus frowned as the water began to rush out of the large bay, flowing out to sea even as the ground trembled beneath them. He could hear shouting from the direction of the Temple but the only people remaining were the Temple Priest and his acolytes who refused to leave their Fayth.

Something suddenly occurred to him and he looked at Christopher. "If by some miracle killing me stops him or seeing me is enough to calm him what will happen to the other Fayth that he hasn't destroyed yet?"

"They will remain trapped." Christopher nodded his head, reaffirming what Tidus had just realised.

"I can't..." Tidus gasped and looked around him desperately as if looking for another solution. "They'll be trapped still."

"I have spoke to them. Stopping Harry from destroying the population is more important than our freedom. We didn't help to release him to free ourselves, we did it to free Spira from its curse, to free Harry in the future." Christopher told him. "Harry raised me, Tidus. I love him as my father. The other Fayth love him also because of the sacrifice he has made for us. A sacrifice we will gladly share. He has released myself, Zara and the three but if we don't stop him soon then Spira will cease to exist except as a place for us to watch Harry wander alone."

The sun suddenly dimmed and that was the only warning that Tidus got before a massive shadow appeared over their heads. The Great Aeon's seemingly black hide flew overhead and settled down onto the dry bed of the bay. The water crashed violently out to sea and Tidus could see massive waves breaking against the far edges of the land.

The huge beast turned slowly to face the Temple but it's eyes spotted Tidus and the three ghosts standing above it and it's growl shook the ground. Tidus gasped when water flooded his ankles and he half turned to see water pouring over the top of the cliff behind him. It was sea water but it was thirty miles to the ocean in that direction. Had the Great Aeon pulled all of that water after it. The ground trembled as the Great Aeon rounded further on them and it's jaws opened and the air stilled.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Tidus swallowed the lump in his throat even as he stepped close to the edge. The water ran right by his knees now and he could barely see the edge of the land. The ground shook as part of the cliff on his right crumbled down and over the edge of the path. The water turned to steam as it hit the bay floor and Tidus looked down at where the beach and the bed of the bay were burning. Moving about as molten rock. Tidus looked back up at the wall of rising steam as the Great Aeon's head pushed through. It's black eyes locked down at their group.

Tidus felt himself relax knowing that he couldn't really change any of this now, just accept what was going to happen to him. He reached out his hand towards what he now thought of as Harry and he cried in quiet sobs like he hadn't done before the last few days. "You don't want to destroy the whole world, Harry." Tidus found himself talking, ignoring the water and the steam, the trembling ground and the three ghosts behind him as he stared at the still head of the Great Aeon. "You only want me. Kill me and I'll be with Simon. I'll watch over you. I promise."

The Great Aeon shifted and its tail lurched around and slammed straight through the cliff by the entrance to the bay but the tail didn't effect it. Merely passed through it. The ground shuddered and Tidus fell to his knees in the rushing water just before the cliff exploded. The ground tipped and Tidus scrambled up so his head didn't disappear under the water. The ground continued to tip and Tidus realised in shock that the entirety of Mushroom Rock road was turning slowly over, east over west. So much so that the water that had been running down the cliff halted and began to drain back along the road.

"Stop it, Harry!" Tidus yelled and felt something throb in his chest as he screamed at the top of his voice. If Harry continued like this he could turn the entire continent of Spira upside down. Harry had told him long ago about how the continents had sunk and the sea beds risen during the Great Calamity. If Harry did it again he doubted anyone would survive. "Kill me!" Tidus recklessly shouted and called up the most powerful magic he could harness and the Thundara slammed out from his hands and bounced harmlessly off of the side of Harry's neck.

A wave of air struck him and he was sent tumbling down the tilting ground. It was almost like a fly being swatted. Harry barely noticed it yet just sent Tidus sprawling. Tidus struggled back up even as his body burned at the effort but his adrenaline shot through his body. He couldn't let this continue. Hopefully if the Great Aeon killed him it would bring it back under control. Simon had assured him that Harry didn't want revenge against Tidus but maybe the pain of killing him, even unintentionally, would bring him to his senses.

His adrenaline shot through his body and Tidus did what was now common practice to him and channelled it into his magic and let his Divergent Overdrive flood through him. His feet rose above the water as his eyes tried to flow shut and Myst around the area shuddered as it was called through his body. A deep rumbling settled through Tidus as Myst grew around him. He felt it beating within his body along with his heartbeat but he could feel it around his body as well beating to a different heartbeat, a slower one. His eyes snapped open but he didn't use the Overdrive attack. The other heartbeat was the pulse of the Great Aeon that flowed and controlled the Myst. Tidus felt himself land gently on the now still ground but his heart beat throbbed through the Myst around him just as the Great Aeon's did.

In that moment they were connected. Human dream to Aeon and deeper within the Aeon. Tidus swallowed thickly as he felt the distinct presence of Harry in that heart beat and as the Great Aeon stood silently Tidus shut his eyes, feeling as though Harry was right there with him. Embracing him. He felt like he did when waking up in Harry's arms. When they'd woken up together on the Airship on the way to Bevelle after their first time making love.

Tidus smiled as the emotions overwhelmed him. It didn't matter that he was provoking the largest power to ever walk this planet. It didn't matter to him that he had betrayed Harry because at the moment the only thing that existed in Tidus' world was Harry and Tidus' love for Harry. And what was more was that Tidus could tell that the only thing that the Great Aeon was bothered about was Tidus and what Tidus shared with his Fayth. From his influence over the Myst, to his memories but most importantly his emotions and feelings. The basis of everything they shared was the love they had for one another and just like with Harry and Simon not even death could stop them loving one another.

He felt a hand against his back and in the closed in world that was his only existence right then he saw two figures lying together in a bed. One was Harry and the other was a young looking Simon and he knew that it was their first morning waking up together. He saw flashes of their life together and absorbed it all even as the Great Aeon watched it all. He saw them marry, he saw their house together, he saw them fighting together; two gods beyond any other fighters Spira would ever see. And he saw them grow together and Simon grow old and he saw Simon's last moments with Harry with Harry holding him in his arms as Simon closed his eyes to the mortal world for the final time.

Emotional pain like he'd never felt before flowed through him and he knew it was Harry's pain at the memory that they'd witnessed so vividly. Tidus felt the ground shake and heard the loud and painful throbbing through the air that was the Great Aeon's own pain. This was the first thing to ever actually pain the massive Aeon. The pain that Tidus felt was so much greater than anything that Tidus had ever imagined feeling before. His greatest pain was watching his mother slowly die of heartbreak and then of betraying Harry and watching the pain in his eyes. Harry's pain though was so much deeper, so much more powerful and his heart bled as he tried to get his own love to overcome the pain. He struggled for a time trying to overcome it himself but even when he managed that he could feel that Harry, as part of the Great Aeon, still struggled with it deep within himself. The pain that made him so angry at the world but the love that made his life worth living. The promise of hope that Simon and Christopher had spoken of.

It was hope and love that made Harry keep moving because all other emotions had become hollow and fleeting to him.

Tidus didn't know how long they remained locked as they were but suddenly the beating Myst was gone and Tidus fell to his knees with a gasping cry as air rushed back into his lungs. He'd forgotten to keep breathing and his vision dimmed as his brain complained but he pushed through it as he watched the Myst spiral around within the bay, ripping off chunks of the cliffs as it spiralled but he noticed something else. The bed of the bay, the beach and the cliffs were speckled with crystals. In the Great Aeon's pain it had effected the land around them but now it was tearing the crystal off into the maelstrom of Myst.

Christopher appeared standing just in front of him at the edge of the water. "You've done it, Tidus." He told him. "This is the end."

"Harry?" Tidus gasped just as the Myst exploded outwards throwing him backwards onto the ground and blowing rock and water up into the air around the bay with a boom that could probably be heard all the way south in Besaid. When Tidus managed to right himself it was to see a body falling down towards the bed at the bottom of the drained bay. It made no sound that could reach them when it hit the ground and Tidus cried out his name again even as the roar of water drew his attention to the massive flood of water that rushed through the entrance to the bay as it gave into gravity. "No!" Tidus cried as the water smashed over what had to be Harry's body, completely swallowing it. The water struck the beach and the cliffs and sprayed right up to where he was kneeling and Tidus could only stare down at the roiling mass of millions of tonnes of water.

"He'll survive, Tidus." Simon told him. "I will watch over him as I always have."

"As will we." Christopher told him and as Tidus sat on his heels at the edge of the tilted and crystallised Mushroom Rock Road the three ghosts faded.

Tidus knew what he was waiting for as he stared down over the edge of the cliff. He was hoping that Harry would surface and he could run down to him. He knew that even if Harry was conscious and hadn't drifted out to sea he probably wouldn't want Tidus and the others finding him straight away but Tidus was willing to wait here just in case.

Simon's words hung over his head. The ghost had told him that he'd watch over Harry but that only pointed out to Tidus that when the Dreamers stopped dreaming which they could do right now if they wanted to then Tidus would either fade from existence or he'd die and his soul would go to where Simon was. Either option would leave Harry alone and that thought alone made his chest ache. He didn't want to leave Harry alone again.

"_Yet you share the same fate now that the Immortal Fayth does."_ Tidus gasped as he found himself staring out at a vast expanse of white. He couldn't even control his own body. It was like a bright light had burst in front of his eyes yet he felt nothing from the light, nor from his own body. Just an ache that he thought would be a part of his life for however long he lived.

"_Oh that ache will fade."_ A different voice, one that sounded like his father, chuckled though there was no real humour in it. Merely an amused observation.

"_The ache will fade but you will not."_ A third voice spoke and this time it sounded like Harry yet without any real personality. Tidus didn't really believe that his mother, father and Harry were actually talking to him.

"You're the beings that punished Harry?" Tidus realised.

"_Yes."_ All three spoke one after the other, drifting around him as they did.

"Hasn't Harry been punished enough?" Tidus accused.

"_You are not in a position to decide such a thing but we have come to appreciate his contributions."_ His mother told him. _"And those that we have punished for their deeds have sought a way to free the world from this being, Sin, and so we shall allow Harry to continue to free them."_

"_Harry chose to pass over his only opportunity to pass on."_ His father pointed out. _"That decision will not be revoked. He will evermore be a part of the mortal world yet always be apart from them as an immortal. He will always suffer his punishment. He will always be responsible for guarding his creation."_

"_And you will help him."_ Harry's voice echoed through his head. _"Think of it as your punishment and our gift to you both."_

Tidus gasped in surprise but he felt relieved. He had known he might be punished but this was a gift for Harry and Tidus and he knew that these beings recognised that. They weren't going to let Harry off of his punishment but they were easing his pain by giving him someone that could love him and be with him. Tidus paused in his thoughts as he remembered the extra memories that he'd witnessed earlier. The love and life that Harry and Simon had shared. It had always been Harry's hope that one day he'd be let off from his punishment so he could once more be with Simon in death but he'd had that ripped away from him when he'd chosen to stay in order to free the other Fayth.

Now Simon would be alone for eternity. He'd known that Harry might never be able to be with Simon but Tidus knew that in time when Tidus died that he'd be able to keep Simon company. Together Tidus and Simon could have watched over Harry, bound by their common love for Harry.

"Could I take Harry's original punishment?" Tidus asked as the ache grew in his chest.

"_To what end?"_ Harry's voice asked and there was actual amusement in the voice.

"I'll remain on earth like Harry has done. Alone." Tidus begged. "In exchange for releasing Harry to die and be with Simon."

"Tidus! No!" Simon's voice echoed weakly through the area and something told Tidus that it truly was Simon's voice. Simon could hear the conversation just like Harry had told him that Simon had been listening to Harry's conversation with them after what had happened to him in Bevelle.

"_A true sacrifice."_ His mother hummed as if in thought.

"Please!" Tidus begged. "He deserves to be with Simon."

"_And you would suffer his punishment?"_ His father asked. _"Walk Spira for eternity alone? Watch everyone you know die in their time as you live on, immortal and ever young? Never to fit in with anyone? That is what you want?"_

"I want Harry to be happy!" Tidus snapped at them. "I don't care about anything else."

Tidus was met by silence but he knew that the beings didn't need time to decide. They didn't owe him anything.

"_Our decision stands." _His mother's voice was like a stab straight to the heart. He was happy to be able to be with Harry but Harry would have been so happy with Simon. Finally able to just die and be with Simon for the rest of eternity. It had been Harry's only true desire ever since Tidus had known him.

The world crashed back around him and he fell to the ground and stared up at the cloudless sky. He could never die and neither could Harry. Simon would remain alone to watch Harry and Tidus live through centuries and millennia together and Harry would always be saddened by that loss.

The airship appeared over the edge of the cliff above him and Tidus felt his hair being buffeted around his head as it slowly sunk down beside the cliff but he just laid there, unable to take in anything else.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Two weeks later**

Harry stood looking down at the bay where the Great Aeon had given up its conquest, all because Tidus had stood before it and given himself up to whatever the Great Aeon had wanted to do. Harry could remember the desires that had run through his Aeon form at being faced with Tidus. Originally anger and betrayal had flooded the Aeon and it had turned its entire might against the single human boy. So much power and anger that the whole hundred mile long Mi'ihen Peninsula had begun to roll as the plate had shifted. Lucas had been hit with massive Earthquakes yet the plate had broken along the Highroad and spared it a much worse fate. The coastline on the west had sunk into the ocean by eight metres and the cliffs of the eastern coast had risen by a similar amount and were now quite obviously slanted inland.

Nobody would ever look at the Mi'ihen Peninsula again without remembering the might of the Great Aeon. The slaughter of the Crusaders and Al'bhed of almost six months ago now paled in comparison. Four hundred people had died along the western coast as their towns sunk into the sea and about forty people died in Luca during the Earthquakes.

Really though, Spira had gotten off lucky. Very lucky. Yuna, Tidus and the others had made their decision and Harry could only find it in himself to forgive Tidus because Tidus had been willing to sacrifice himself, not only to stop the Great Aeon from its rampage but also to free Harry from his punishment.

He'd heard everything that the 'beings' had said to Tidus. He'd heard Simon's cry from the beyond yet he'd remained silent until Tidus had gone. Tidus' presence would ease the coming years but he had come to rely on Tidus being there to relieve Simon's pain. The one true victim in all of this and he didn't have a loved one to share his eternity with.

The beings had charged him with one other task before he was allowed to hide from the world and possibly rebuild something of an existence but he was willing to do it because the other Fayth were beyond the point where they should have to remain here. The Zanarkand Summoners had ended their dream and the Delta Sisters, Christopher in Bevelle and Zara in Macalania had all been freed by the Great Aeon. So too had Anima been freed by the 'beings'.

Harry walked up to the flooded entrance of the Djose Temple. The area in front of it was strewn with crystal boulders from the brief moment when the Great Aeon had cried out in pain at the remembered death of Simon. Two men were working on a wooden scaffolding to cross the water but they looked up at him in confusion as he passed them by in the waist deep water.

"Hey!" One called to him but he ignored them and entered the darkened interior of the damaged temple. One of the men ran in behind him calling out to him which attracted the attention of the Temple Priest who was working with another man to try to light the fires around the entrance hall.

"Good traveller." The Priest greeted with a bow before looking up at him with confusion in his eyes. He flinched and then his eyes widened and Harry knew that Elizia had recognised him. This was the first time any of the others had seen him since the Great Aeon had been released. They'd known he still existed since his power still slumbered beneath the ocean but they knew not what he was doing. The Priest reached for his staff but then crumbled to the ground. The man with him was too surprised but Harry moved and caught him, easing him down to his knees. "I know what you are!" The Priest gasped. "Why are you here?"

"What is Elizia saying?" Harry asked, not able to keep the pain out of his voice.

"You know that name?" The Priest gasped. "She is tormented by what has happened."

"Come with me to her chamber." Harry requested. "You need not be confused. I am not here to harm anyone."

"You are the Great Aeon!" The Priest gasped and the other two men stumbled back away from him. "It's Fayth!"

"High Priest?" One of the men asked for orders.

"Will you be another to try to kill me?" Harry asked gently. "She won't allow you to summon against me. You can hear that yourself." Harry knew that would be true. Not after what they'd done.

"Stand back!" The Priest ordered his men who bowed. "Come, Fayth. We will go inside the Cloister."

Harry didn't say a word as they went though the trials but the route was open to them like it always was to Harry unless he was bringing Summoners through them and the Chamber of the Fayth opened for them as they approached. Harry actually found himself droping down onto his knees against the edge of the crystal as he saw Elizia standing on top or her crystal. He hung his head and she knelt opposite him.

"You've been through so much pain, Harry." She told him and the Priest bowed deeply to her and knelt at the edge of her crystal to one side. "We've known each other for how long now?"

"About fourteen hundred years." He looked up at him. Priest's head snapped up.

"You didn't know me when I was alive though did you?" She asked and Harry shook his head. He couldn't help but feel like a wounded child right now. "Not like you knew Zara before she lost control and destroyed her city."

"I'm sorry that she's free and you're not." Harry told her. "My Aeon was coming here to free you..."

"I don't blame Tidus for stopping you before freeing me. After here you would have destroyed Luca." Elizia nodded even as the Priest frowned in horror. The poor man was going out of his mind but he knew when a situation was better left alone and the two others in the room were the root of all of his own strength and an ageless immortal that his own Aeon respected utterly and had just become known as a Fayth for the greatest power anyone had ever witnessed. Elizia turned to the Priest. "Do you see now why we would never be summoned against him? Why I was so angry at your religion when it tried to hurt him?"

The Priest nodded. "I am sorry."

"You were not foolish, Gulliver." Elizia told him. "You stepped away and trusted my words over your own Maesters' authority."

"The Maesters have no claim over you all." Gulliver the Priest bowed his head.

"Do you know what I did to become a Fayth, Gulliver?" She asked and Harry snapped his head up to look at her.

"Elizia!" He gasped. "He doesn't need to know."

"Everyone now knows what you did, Harry." She sighed before turning to Gulliver. "Bevelle was testing weapons of destruction that you cannot imagine. I wanted to stop them so I came to their facility and destroyed their weapon."

"Elizia..." Harry hung his head.

"The explosion detonated their weapon." She smiled sadly down at the Priest. "Their weapon created the bay that you now see outside. The explosion destroyed four towns in this area, including the small fishing village where my husband and two sons lived. I died and this was my eternal punishment. I am now a Fayth as punishment for my decision."

"Elizia." Harry gained her attention. "None of that matters anymore."

"There is no more Sin." Elizia pointed out. "Nobody needs to believe in us any longer. We're not needed to give the people hope. Our terrible deeds can become known."

"Elizia. Your punishment has ended." Harry told her and slowly stood up and walked up onto the edge of her crystal. "They have sent me to free you and all of the others."

"They wouldn't..." Elizia gasped and Harry could see her shaking. "They have?" Hope bled from her face. "Michael, Trevor and Luke?"

"You can go to them now." Harry nodded and raised his hand. Pure white energy appeared there though it took nothing from his own energy. This power wasn't part of him but of something greater. Given to him purely to do this task.

"But, Harry, what about you?" Elizia gasped.

"I remain." Harry shook his head. "But you have paid your dues, Elizia. It's past time that you rested in peace."

"I'll always watch over you, Harry." Elizia swore to him.

"Give Simon and Christopher my love and tell Christopher that I forgave him long ago." Harry was crying freely and he let the white light in his hand drop onto the top of the platform. Elizia nodded, crying too. She closed her eyes and faded from view just as the Crystal below him shuddered. He stepped back off of it before it shattered into thousands of pieces and crumbled upon her body which scattered into Pyreflies.

He bowed his head to her and a small smile graced his lips even as Gulliver stared at him, looking rather lost without his Aeon in his mind. Harry gazed across at him and the Priest nodded to him to show he understood. "Where am I needed?" The Priest asked him.

"Head to Luca. There are still many wounded there." Harry told him. "Let this place rest. She deserves that."

"I will always honour her in my memory." Gulliver bowed to him as Harry turned and slipped out of the chamber. He would visit the others in turn and they now knew to expect him though each probably wouldn't believe that their punishment was at an end. He knew Yuna would know of Elizia's disappearance and even if the others didn't tell her he was sure she would realise what was happening. He would go to Besaid last. He just hoped that Tidus would be there waiting for him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Luca**

Yuna looked up at the gathering crowd around her from where she was on her knees. She had been watching from the side, resting, as the crowds cared for the wounded and cleared rubble. There were currently three Summoners like herself in the world, not including the Temple Priests who only had their own Temple's Aeon but she didn't doubt that both Isaaru and Dona had felt the sudden loss of Ixion from within their cores. To make matters worse her other Aeons were talking to her in a frantic state that she couldn't understand.

"Yuna?" Lulu called as she helped her to stand. "Are you alright?"

"Something's happened to Djose temple!" She gasped. "Ixion is gone!"

"Gone?" One of the Luca townspeople gasped loudly and it quickly spread through the crowd.

"I can no longer call on her." Yuna rubbed at her head. "The other Fayth are happy that she's gone."

Tidus was suddenly standing in front of her and he took her hands and focused on her. "Ask them..." He spoke for the first time since whatever had happened between him and the Great Aeon two weeks past. "Ask them whether it was Harry that did it?"

"How could Harry..." Wakka asked.

'_Tidus speaks the truth of it.'_ Valefor's calm voice whispered in her mind, calming the other two. _'Only Yojimbo, Ifrit and I remain.'_

"She says it was." She whispered to Tidus and watched something spark in her friend before closing away again as Tidus sunk down onto a crate. Yuna sat next to him.

"If it was Harry shouldn't we go find him?" Wakka asked.

Yuna looked around her and thought about it. Rikku and Auron were up in Bevelle organising the citizens there to help the Al'bhed travel between the smaller towns that had been the worst hit by the Great Aeon and Dona and Isaaru were up with them lending a hand. Kimahri, Tidus, Lulu and Wakka had remained with her to help the tens of thousands trying to clear their way through Luca even as survivors from the Mi'ihen Peninsula shift headed south to the city looking for aid. Boats crammed into the docks and people were being shifted up the coast to the relatively intact Bevelle. Not one person had complained about the Al'bhed helping out or their ships doing most of the work.

"No." Tidus whispered. "Leave him be."

"Are you sure?" Yuna asked.

"He'll come to Besaid?" Tidus asked her and Yuna frowned wondering why he was asking her.

'_He will in time.'_ Valefor spoke once more and Yuna nodded to Tidus.

"Then we'll work to rescue Spira from this and then return home to Besaid. He'll find us if he wants to."

"If?" Wakka asked rather tactlessly and Lulu smacked him very hard on the shoulder. Tidus flinched regardless and walked away from the growing crowd to find somewhere to sit in silence. He'd yet to tell any of the others what he now was. What his punishment had been even after Yuna had told them of a short conversation that she had had. Yuna had been charged only with not shirking her duty to reform Spira. Tidus just couldn't bring himself to admit that there were now two immortals roaming Spira because he still dreaded the idea that maybe Harry would want nothing to do with him and that they'd merely avoid each other for all of eternity.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**A week later – Cavern of the Stolen Fayth**

"So you came this way first?" Ron asked him gently as he sat cross-legged above his own broken crystal. Harry sat down in the same position just at the edge of the crystal.

"There's only you, Hermione and Neville left." Harry shrugged. "And..."

"Tidus is in the southern islands?" Ron suggested.

"Is he?" Harry asked.

"You want me to spy on him for you?" Ron joked but then became serious. "We are watching him through Yuna's eyes. We've asked her not to let him out of her sight and she is trying, yet he's good at slipping away to be alone. Yuna is wondering what his punishment is. He told her he has none but..."

"You don't believe that?" Harry finished for him. "If he hasn't told Yuna then he doesn't want his friends to know. Tell Hermione and Neville but let him make his own decision about the others."

Ron smiled at him though it was still strained. "We do have a bit of common sense between the three of us."

"You mean Hermione does and you and Neville are just along for kicks?" Harry smirked and Ron smiled at him truly for the first time. "He now shares my punishment." Ron gasped. "There will be no end for either of us."

"But Simon?" Ron looked upset. Ron never let himself look upset even though Harry knew he normally was when it came to Harry.

"Tidus tried to make the 'beings' free me in return for leaving Tidus alone down here." Harry hung his head. "Tidus was willing to sacrifice his happiness so that I could die."

"They didn't accept it?" Ron asked though he already knew the answer.

"They asked me." Harry sighed. "I couldn't answer them. How could I make that decision, Ron? Die and be with Simon even though Tidus would be alone for eternity or stay with Tidus for eternity and leave Simon alone."

"Oh, Harry." Ron sighed. "The others will look after him for you."

"You too?" Harry asked looking up.

"Then you are to free me too?" Ron looked hopeful in spite of everything. Harry nodded. "And Hermione and Neville?" Harry nodded again. "What about you?"

"I'll have Tidus." Harry told him. "If he'll have me."

"Harry. He stood before the Great Aeon willing to give his life to stop you from having to destroy everything." Ron pointed out. "And I've seen him since. He spoke to no one for two weeks until Elizia disappeared and he hasn't spoken to anyone since then. He's helping in Luca right now."

"I'll free the others as soon as I can, Ron." Harry promised.

"Visit us from time to time, yeah?" Ron requested.

"As long as you look out for Simon." Harry wiped at his eyes as he stood. Ron followed him up and nodded. "It's been a long run, Ron. I'm glad I knew you but its time you rested. Say hello to all of your family for me, please? Especially your mum."

"Of course." Ron sighed with a happy smile. "I should be so sad to leave you Harry but I'll be able to talk to you now and again in the Farplane and I've so missed them all."

"Your mum, dad, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and Ginny." Harry listed for Ron and saw Ron break apart at the idea of once more being with his family. Harry let the growing white light fall down on his friend's body and stepped back as Ron smiled lovingly at him before his body scattered into Pyreflies. "Goodbye, Ron."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Two days later – Bevelle**

Harry had considered the different ways to travel south to get to Kilika and Besaid and come to a simple conclusion. The faster the better since it was Neville and Hermione's freedom that he had to consider. Travelling by land through the torn Mushroom Rock Road and Luca would take longer than going by boat and he should be able to get passage down to Luca easily enough with the number of ships plying back and forth in the wake of the devastation.

Bevelle was actually as busy as it ever had been before it had been attacked though the loss of the Temple was actually physically painful to Harry because it reminded him of someone else that he'd never see again except for the Farplane which was just another reason to avoid going by land right now. He didn't want the temptation. Because of the type of attack on the city most of the buildings were easily habitable so many of the refugees had flocked to the city and with the stores built up under the city it quickly became the centre for refugee care.

Hundreds of Ronso had travelled south to the city to aid in the rebuilding as had all of the Al'bhed previously scattered by the Guado attack and they were even working along with the Guado as if nothing had happened. Even dressed in his high collared armoured gilet, heavy black trousers and with his machina sword on his back he didn't really draw much attention within the busy crowds as he moved towards the temporary docks that the Al'bhed had constructed north-west of the city to house their ships.

He went unnoticed for about two hours before a little cry erupted from the crowd and a small boy darted through two Ronso and up to him. "Hello, Pacce." He greeted the little guardian who actually beamed at him.

"You're the...!" Pacce started but Harry clamped his hand over his mouth. So far people seemed to understand what he was if they recognised him. He'd rather the crowds didn't start gawking at him or even start a complete panic.

"Please don't shout that out, Pacce." Harry told him as he bent down onto one knee and released the boy who nodded before surprising Harry by throwing himself onto him in a hug. Harry rubbed his back but was rather surprised.

"Maroda and Isaaru say I should be grateful to you for everything you've done for Spira and that people shouldn't be afraid of you." Pacce told him. "And I like you!"

Harry smiled at the boy properly but his attention was drawn to the crowd when Maroda and then Isaaru broke through the crowd and stumbled to a halt. "Pacce!" Maroda cried. "What have I told you about running off?"

"Harry!?" Isaaru gasped as he recognised the man with his youngest brother. He gripped his head and slumped slightly.

Harry stood up but Pacce just clung to his waist. Harry bowed to Isaaru. "Hello, Summoner Isaaru and Guardian Maroda."

"Harry." Isaaru smiled and bowed low to him which drew stares from the crowd. "My Aeons greet you too."

"Tell them that I am on my way." He smiled and Isaaru's eyes widened in realisation. "It is passed their time to rest, Isaaru."

"I will miss them but I can feel their happiness at being freed from their state." Isaaru nodded. "I cannot begrudge them that. Dona agrees though we will both keenly feel their loss."

"What will you do now?" Harry asked.

"We're to travel south down the coast to lend aid in Luca. Yuna was there but she is to return home. There are so many heading south now." Isaaru told him. "I have heard from her through Ifrit and Valefor. She is concerned for Tidus, he is overworking himself in Luca and she wants to take him home so he can rest and recover."

"He gave up much when he faced..." Harry paused and glanced around but then just sighed. "When he faced my Aeon form he sacrificed much to stop it. For that I am sorry."

"So you really are a Fayth?" Pacce asked.

Harry swallowed and had to turn away from Pacce as his eyes strained not to cry. Pacce was simply too young to truly associate Harry with the hundreds of twisted and deformed bodies they'd have had to remove from Bevelle.

"He'll one day truly understand." Maroda told him sadly. "But hopefully not too soon and I doubt it will change his opinion of you. He speaks of you often since we met you in Djose Temple."

Harry smiled at them. "When do you travel south and how?"

"We were heading for the docks now." Isaaru told him. "Rikku is to travel with us."

"Sir Auron is still here?" Harry asked noticing he wasn't travelling with them. Isaaru didn't seem surprised.

"Yuna has agreed to Send him but he wishes to help for a while before that." Isaaru assured him.

"Let us go." Harry nodded and pushed Pacce towards Maroda. "I am sure Rikku will be thrilled to see that I am still alive." He winced at the wording but walked with the group down towards the docks and then along the floating jetties to one of the dozen Al'bhed ships tied up alongside.

He pushed at the end of the jetty when he spotted the short fiery girl who was yelling out orders to a half dozen Al'bhed who were busy loading up the ship. She huffed at something somebody yelled to her but Harry didn't really pay attention. This was the first of his recent friends that he'd seen since what had happened. Isaaru held onto Pacce as he walked out along the dock and stopped a few feet behind her.

"Rikku?" He asked and the girl froze up but didn't turn to look at him. "I'm not going to vanish if you turn around, Rikku." He forced a chuckle and she snapped around to look at him but still staggered back in shock. Her reaction getting the attention of most of the Al'bhed who looked at Harry and reached for weapons.

"**Stop!"** Rikku called in Al'bhed. **"Get back to work!"** She eyed Harry for a few seconds and Harry breathed out heavily before she sprung on him with a cry and hugged him. "You're really alive?"

"I can't die, Rikku." Harry sighed as she pulled away.

"Have you seen the others yet?" Rikku demanded. "Tidus?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "There's something I have to do first."

"What?" She demanded.

"I have to free the last two Fayth." Harry told her sadly. "Then I can go to Tidus."

"Sorry." She deflated and looked down. "I'm just worried. Yuna sent me a letter and she said she was worried about Tidus."

"I know." Harry nodded. "But they know I'm coming. The last of the Fayth told Yuna."

"Oh, Harry." She buried herself in his chest again. "I'm so sorry about..."

"No, Rikku." Harry hugged her back. "I don't want to talk about it. What's done is done."

"Yes it is." Rikku pulled back and looked down at her feet.

"Isaaru told me that you're taking him south to Luca." Harry prompted. "Can you take me too?"

"To see Tidus?" She questioned.

Harry shook his head. "In the right direction but I want to finish freeing my friends before I focus on fixing things with Tidus."

"Harry, _you_ don't have anything to fix. If anything we and Tidus have..." Rikku gasped as Harry covered her mouth with a finger.

"Please, Rikku." Harry shook his head and pulled back his finger. "Tidus has paid a very heavy price for what he did. There is no longer any need to put blame on him. He will be paying for this for a long time. Do not add to his torment."

Rikku stared at him before going pale and staggering back. "You mean...?"

"I will not put it into words, Rikku." Harry snapped. "And neither shall you. To anyone, not even Yuna."

Rikku shed a tear but then smiled at him. She was smart enough to go straight to the pain that this would cause Tidus when his loved ones begun to die and all he had was Harry. Never being able to love again without causing pain to them and himself. "I'll take you to Luca but if it's Kilika you want to go to then I'll take you there afterwards."

"I don't need to go to Luca." Harry shook his head. "And people know what I am now and they know what I did to Luca. If I can help it I shouldn't show my face in that city for a long time yet."

"_You_ didn't..." Harry shook her head to cut her off.

"I might not have had a choice, Rikku." Harry said as he spotted Isaaru and Maroda walking up to them. Pacce dashed up onto the ship gleefully and Harry continued when Isaaru and Maroda were paying attention. "Just like before I might not have had any choice but I was still the one that killed all of those people and I'm still the one that nearly sunk the Mi'ihen Peninsula into the ocean. Luca won't benefit from me being there. I'll travel with you but I'll remain on the ship while you're in Luca. It would be best if you don't tell anyone I am there."

Isaaru and Maroda nodded to agree to do what he said and headed onto the ship after their little brother. Rikku hugged him again and pulled him up onto the ship to get him settled in.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Nine days later**

Harry stood beside Rikku on the bridge of her ship as it touched gently against one of the wooden docks of Kilika which no longer showed any signs of what Sin had done to it so many months ago. "Thank you, Rikku." Harry told her.

"We'll be here overnight." Rikku reminded him. "Do what you've got to do. I'll wait for you tomorrow and we'll head down to Besaid. I've got supplies to drop off here and down in Besaid."

Harry nodded and slipped down the ladder and out onto the deck and from there through the crowds and towards the forests. He purposely left it till night time before heading into the Temple because of the sheer mass of refugees that were praying in the Temple during the day and sleeping there at night. So much had been destroyed down the coasts of the main continent that the few untouched towns had become havens. Unfortunately Luca couldn't help people at the moment and so they were having to send people to Kilika. Few went on to Besaid which was why he expected Yuna to have taken Tidus there.

The trials opened out for him and warm fires lit his passage through the tunnels and the Cloister opened for him without prompting. Neville was standing on the Crystal. "Harry."

"Neville." Harry smiled at him.

"Hermione and I have been talking and..."

"Shut up, Neville." Harry actually laughed with a proper smile on his face. "Don't you think I know you two?"

"I don't..." Neville started but Harry just rolled his eyes.

"You didn't suggest it to Ron because you knew how much he loved and missed his family and didn't want to put the idea in his head." Harry rolled his eyes and walked up onto the crystal to stand right in front of his friend. "I know what you want to suggest but I could never ask that of you, Neville. The same applies to Hermione. It's sweet to offer to stay for my benefit but it's not right for me to let you."

Neville sighed and looked up at the ceiling but Harry knew he wouldn't try to hide his tears for long and neither did Harry. Neville looked back down. "We would have, you know?"

"I know, Nev." Harry smiled. "And that's why I love you. You've been a good friend and brother all of these years and I will miss having you around but you have people waiting for you."

"Like Elizia told you, we'll all look after him for you." Neville promised referring to Simon. "And will you tell Tidus from us that we are truly grateful to him for giving you back your smile and for what he tried to do to help you. We cannot tell him now through Yuna."

"Are you happy to go now, Nev?" Harry asked as he raised his hand and that white light grew in his palm again.

"I am looking forward to seeing a few people." Neville choked on his words. "Goodbye, Harry. Brother. I love you too and I'll never stop watching over you and Tidus."

Harry smiled and let the light fall from his hand. "Rest free, Nev." He whispered as he stepped back and watched Neville's body fade into pyreflies. He sat down against the wall and wrapped his arms around his legs and let himself cry as he pressed his head down on his knees until he finally forced himself up and back down to the port.

He slipped onto the ship in the middle of the night and found his cabin and simply curled up in his bed as he tried to sleep only to fail and shiver through the night. Wishing that he wasn't the one to have to see the happy faces of his friends. Part of him had decided this was just another part of his punishment but the rest of him knew that in time he'd be grateful that he'd had the chance to be the one to free them all. He just wished he'd had a chance to say goodbye to Christopher in person before the Great Aeon had freed him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next day**

Harry woke late while the ship was sailing and figured that Rikku had checked on him in the morning and seeing he was there realised that he was finished in Kilika. Of course he expected her to have heard about what he'd done from the Temple Priest when it became known that Ifrit had gone. She'd clearly seen his state and left him be.

He dressed but didn't bother zipping up his jacket or putting on his sword and then ventured up onto the bow of the ship. He leant against the prow, feeling the spray hit his face, chest and arms and just stared down into the water as it slipped under the prow. Rikku settled next to him against the railing. "Harry? Are you okay?"

"It's just painful to let them go." Harry sighed truthfully. "It's been so long and I've shared this pain with them for centuries. Part of me hurts because they are finally free and I'm not but the rest of me is happy for them. And I'm glad to be the one that can make them so happy. To see them smile properly again after so long. It's just..."

"I think I understand." Rikku place a hand on his back. "My pop once spoke of the pain that he saw in your eyes. He said that he thought that what kept you going was a task to accomplish. He said you seemed happier during the quest to assemble the Al'bhed then when he first met you."

"I can be happy with Tidus." Harry sighed and looked down at the water. "The thought of being able to spend so much time with him really makes me happy but with that comes the loss. What he has sacrificed and what Simon looses."

Rikku didn't know what to say to that but she didn't back away and merely stood with him as the sun settled towards the western horizon and the small island of Besaid got closer and closer. Eventually she straightened up.

"We'll dock within the hour." She declared. "We won't set off for the village till the morning."

"I'll head up to the Temple straight away. I want to slip through and do what I need to do and then I want to find Tidus." Harry looked at Rikku and she slipped closer and hugged him gently. "I just hope he's happy to see me."

"If I know Tidus then he will be." Rikku assured him.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**That night**

Harry slipped into the Chamber of the Fayth and sat down in front of Valefor. "Are you going to try to convince me that you're happy staying?" Harry asked her.

Hermione smiled at him. "I know you better than that." She told him.

"Then why suggest it?" He asked.

"Because Neville thought we should. I told him that you wouldn't accept that but the offer had to be made. If anything because you deserved to have the choice." She smiled. "You know what I'm going to miss about you, Harry?"

"What?" Harry frowned.

"Your ability to overcome everything that gets thrown at you." She told him. "You are truly one of a kind, Harry, and our lives really have been better for knowing you."

"Yes well, they'll be even better once you're freed." Harry announced not knowing what to say to her. Hermione laughed. "God, I'm going to miss you."

"Oh, Harry." She sobbed. "I'm going to miss you too but I won't really be gone. None of us are. We're all bound together by our love for you. All of us. We're a family and Simon is a part of that family. We'll all be together and we'll be watching out for you and Tidus."

"You've always been so good to me, Hermione." Harry smiled.

"You've always been so good to everyone, Harry." She countered before standing as Harry did. She reached out a hand and laid it unfeelingly against his cheek. "You've been my brother for longer than I can remember, Harry, and I'll always love you for it."

"You've always been the sister I never had and I love you too, Hermione." He smiled as tears slipped down his face once more. This was so difficult for him. The last of his friends. His hand wouldn't turn over to release the light and he sobbed in pain.

"It's okay, Harry." Hermione whispered. "We'll never truly be gone from your life. We'll all be in your heart. Always there for you."

"Goodbye, Hermione." He whispered and released the light and stepped away as the crystal shattered and her body vanished into pyreflies. The last of Spira's Aeons. The first to be made and the last to go. Harry fell to his knees by the broken crystal and sobbed uncontrollably for more than an hour.

When he finally made it outside he stumbled almost drunkenly down the steps to find Yuna and the Temple Priest Tornah standing together. Yuna was crying freely and Tornah stared at him with unrestrained sorrow in his eyes. Yuna and he had clearly been talking. Harry couldn't take it and fell to his knees and Yuna ran across the stone floor to reach him and he fell into her arms as sobs wracked his frame.

Yuna said nothing to him and he didn't say a word in return and finally he drew himself up and looked towards the door. "Tidus is using your house." Yuna told him with a bowed head knowing that Harry hadn't even considered forgiving her yet. Harry respected that in her and he headed out into the night knowing that Yuna and Tornah would give him the peace he needed right now. He walked through the newly beaten track out of the village and into the trees and found his little stone cottage and paused outside of the door for almost ten minutes before looking up at the stars.

"Please..." Harry whispered yet he didn't really know what he was asking for. He closed the remained gap with a little more confidence and opened the wooden door and walked into the one room house. A single light sat on the table, a sphere light from ancient Zanarkand that Tidus had clearly remembered how to use. It gave off enough light on its current setting to show him the inside of the room with the bed against the right hand wall and the body lying with the covers around his waist. He slipped off his sword and placed it on the table before moving to the edge of the bed. Tidus was sleeping seemingly peacefully but the covers had twisted enough to show that achieving sleep had been difficult for him.

Harry crossed the room and sat on the side of the bed, just next to Tidus' waist and reached out a hand to touch Tidus' hand that was settled on his stomach. Tidus reacted instantly, sitting up with a gasp. Harry moved back a little as Tidus took in everything before staring at Harry.

"You're real?" Tidus asked with a shake to his voice that suggested that if Harry proved to be a figment of his imagination he'd lose his mind right then and there.

"I'm real, Tidus." Harry whispered back and put his hand on Tidus' chest.

"Oh god..." Tidus choked and clung to Harry. "I..." Tidus sobbed and Harry turned and clung to Tidus just as tightly. "Harry, I..." Tidus clearly couldn't express himself.

"Tidus." Harry sighed and pressed his head onto Tidus' bare shoulder. "I know everything. I could hear them talking to you."

"Harry." Tidus sobbed and started shaking. "I'm so sorry. Please don't leave me!"

"Shh..." Harry tried to sooth him but he knew his own body was shaking just as much.

"I can't do this without you!" Tidus begged as he cried and trembled. Harry shifted and pulled off his clothing as quick as he could knowing that nothing but Harry being there with him in the bed would convince Tidus of anything. He pulled Tidus down into the bed and pulled the young man right up on top of him and wrapped his arms around his sobbing form as tears soaked his bare chest. "Please..."

"Tidus..." Harry sighed.

"Please don't go." Tidus cried. "I love you. Please still love me."

Harry reached up and pulled Tidus' head up to look at him but when Tidus didn't let him he rolled them over and pinned Tidus' head to look up at him and waited for Tidus to open his eyes. Tears spread down the side of his head as his chest shook. Harry stroked the sides of his face. "Tidus, look at me." Tidus did but just shuddered and cried. "I'm not going to leave you. Not now, not in a year's time, not in ten, a hundred, a thousand or even a million. I love you, Tidus."

"I did that to you." Tidus gasped out.

"Not now, Tidus." Harry told him simply. "This isn't the time to talk about that. We will but only when you know that I'm not going to leave you for anything. Now rest and know that when you wake up I'll be right here with you. I swear it Tidus."

"Please, Harry." Tidus begged. "Kiss me."

Harry nodded and leaned down and pressed a tender and loving kiss to Tidus' trembling lips and let go of his face so that he could run a hand up and down Tidus' side and across his chest to try to calm him down. Tidus shuddered as Harry pulled back and Harry kissed his forehead before rolling them around again so that Tidus could curl up on him. Tidus pressed his face into Harry's neck and breathed in deeply, reassuring himself. Harry wrapped him up in his arms and pulled the blanket up over them both.

"I love you, Tidus. Never forget that."

"I love you too." Tidus whispered into his neck and then fell into an exhausted sleep, finally giving up on the real world and happy to have Harry's reassuring body against his own. Feeling safe in this new existence he was facing. Harry understood perfectly and followed him quickly into an exhausted sleep.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The next morning**

Harry was jolted awake when Tidus yelped and sat up. Harry rolled over as he came alert and noticed two things wrong with this scene. Or rather two people that weren't supposed to be there. He sat up as his hand reached out and magic welled through the room before crumbling as he took in the faces of the two people sitting around the bottom of the bed.

Christopher was sitting on the bed itself while Simon was sitting in a chair just under the window. Both were wearing what Harry best remembered them in. Simon in his travelling gear although it looked brand new and Christopher in his dark jeans and red t-shirt that he'd worn most before he'd become a summoner. His favourite red hoodie, a gift from Harry, was folded over his arms in his lap. Then Harry noticed that they were completely solid. In fact Harry could register the depression in the bed where Christopher was sitting.

Harry gaped before his mouth shut with a click. He couldn't think of anything to say in this situation. "Simon?" Tidus croaked out in confusion. The poor boy was already strained from last night and would have probably been under enough stress with Harry waking up next to him even without two dead people sitting around the bed. "Christopher?"

"Who else?" Christopher asked sarcastically.

"Whelp!" Harry and Simon but reprimanded naturally at the same time before staring at each other as Christopher giggled. Harry had always called Christopher that when he was playing up as a kid and he'd used the phrase enough around Simon that he used it naturally too. "What are you doing here?" Harry asked as the pain caught up to him and his eyes teared up. Simon obviously saw it since he cross the gap and sat next to Christopher, just by Harry's feet.

He reached out and held his hand just over Harry's leg before seeming to steal himself to something and then dropped his hand down the last gap. Harry gasped as he felt the weight of Simon's hand through the blanket and onto his leg and his body shook. Christopher just grinned and launched himself across the bed and into Harry who automatically caught him. Christopher laughed and hugged him tightly and Harry shivered and held him back just as tightly.

"Simon?" Tidus gasped looking around in shock. "What's happening?"

"After Hermione was freed the 'beings' brought all of us together in the Far Plane. All of the people that Harry has thought of as family over the years and all of the Fayth he has known over the two millennia." Simon rubbed his arm over his face to wipe away tears that were threatening to fall. "Even before they spoke to you they had made the decision to place you with Harry but truly Harry's punishment is over. They will make him remain on Earth but not alone."

"Me?" Tidus asked already knowing that part.

"And me." Simon breathed out and Harry and Tidus stared at him in shock. "I share the same fate as the two of you now. A gift rather than a punishment in my eyes. Harry was always my only family. There is no place I'd rather be."

"And Christopher?" Harry asked trying to comprehend that which he'd never dreamed possible was actually happening.

"They gave all of the Fayth a choice." Christopher looked up at him. "They all decided that they had reason enough to stay dead. You're the only reason I have. I asked to come down so we could be a family again." Christopher suddenly looked down at his lap, looking like a ten year old for the first time to Tidus. Looking nothing like the Fayth of Bahamut when sitting in the Immortal Fayth's lap. "If you want me."

"Oh, Christopher." Harry gasped and hugged the boy to him tightly. "You'll always be a son to me."

"Even when you're over a thousand?" Simon smirked before looking at Tidus. "We're the children here."

Christopher stuck his tongue out at Simon rather childishly. "Christopher will always be that little boy I drifted through the ocean with." Harry smiled at him and then kissed him on the forehead.

"Does this mean we have to babysit him?" Tidus asked cheekily yet his delirious happiness was evident in his sparkling eyes. Harry turned to him with bright emerald eyes the like that none of them had ever seen before. Gone was any of the pain that had always lingered there. Christopher laughed and moved to hug Tidus and sit in his lap, ignoring the inverted age difference and Simon sat down next to Harry and the two embraced like they hadn't in hundreds of years.

The group settled down to talk and elate over the new world that they now faced and decided that the villagers and Harry and Tidus' friends could wait till that evening for any form of explanation.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**Epilogue – 500 years later**

The Island of Besaid rustled in the gentle sea breeze that rippled around the mountains of the small island that had always been set apart from the new cities that had cropped up over the last few centuries since the defeat of Sin and the Everlasting Peace. Everyone knew that it was where the Immortal Ones lived and although the village had always prospered by the Old Temple people left them alone for the most part. They travelled the world and were met firstly by revered silence but then their deeds became known only as tales told from parents to children and read in history books and they were able to pass anonymously amongst most crowds as their faces were forgotten.

Harry stood leaning on the railing of their large balcony that ringed their house built into the top end of one of the secluded coves of Besaid Island. A pleasant beach filled the side of the cove but the house hung twenty metres above the water at the top end of the cove looking out over the sides of the cove and out into the eastern ocean. Occasionally ships passed as they ran around the island but few ever came into the cove because everyone knew that the house belonged to the Immortal Ones. A nice fifty metre sailing yacht sat alongside a jetty off of the beach and they used it on occasion to travel the world or meet with friends.

Hands ran up his back and a bare chest settled against his bare back and Harry easily recognised Simon's body against his own and sighed in satisfaction. He'd never tire of his two husbands and knew that they'd never tire of him or each other. "Where's Tidus?" Harry asked quietly as Simon's head rested on his shoulder.

"Tidus is here." Tidus' amused voice sounded as he slipped up next to him and leaned his back on the railing. Harry shifted and leaned into Tidus' front and Simon followed him. Tidus had shifted slightly over the years to a body of an actual adult but he still looked slightly younger than the two twenty-five year old looking men but his body was more naturally permanent this way and not that of a growing seventeen year old like he had been when he'd faced off with the Great Aeon.

"Chris is on his way." Simon told him. Chris had outgrown the use of his full name centuries ago. "His boat arrived this morning. He has a girl to introduce to us."

Harry smiled. "Does this girl know who we are?"

"Ah, no..." Simon laughed. "Chris' letter said that he hadn't told her who he is or who we are."

"That should be interesting." Harry mused. Because their faces weren't known throughout the world anymore Chris had been able to make friends. He was no longer the ten year old boy newly released after a thousand years as a Fayth but a young man of about Tidus' physical appearance and he'd gone through a very late rebellious phase where he'd caused unbelievable chaos that Harry had loved dealing with but no matter what Chris did and where he went or who he went with he was always tied to the three here and he always had a place here with them. Simon, Harry and Tidus might be an item but the four of them were a family.

Chris was the only one among them that didn't have someone to spend eternity with but so far he'd never met anyone that he couldn't live without and he'd told them that one day if he did then he'd make them part of their family for as long as he could and the three of them had agreed to that easily enough. They'd be there for him to try to make it work and they'd be there for him if it did work out and afterwards when Chris had to suffer with the loss.

They stood together for a while as the sun warmed them and they listened to the sounds of each others' bodies in satisfaction until Tidus whispered out the words that Harry was so used to hearing. "You happy, Harry?"

"As happy as you and Simon." Harry smiled up at Tidus as Simon kissed his neck. Tidus beamed at him knowing himself just how happy Harry was by the way that he touched Tidus and Simon and the way his eyes lit up whenever he was with any member of his Immortal Family.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

**The End**


End file.
